Football is the most popular sport to bet on in North America, with millions of wagers being placed each week during the football season. The NFL is the most popular league, which culminates in the Super Bowl. In 2022, Americans placed more than $7 billion in wagers on the Super Bowl, making it one of the biggest events of the year for sportsbooks.
While the NFL is the most popular league for a lot of football bettors, other leagues also present betting opportunities if you want to broaden your horizons a bit. The CFL is the Canadian Football League, and while it’s not as popular as the NFL, it’s still big in Canada. Betting on the CFL is also accepted by most sportsbooks, giving football fans more opportunities to bet during the season.
If you want to start betting on the CFL, you’re going to need to know more about it. The rules of the game are slightly different, as the CFL field is longer and wider, and CFL teams have twelve players on the field at once. You can find out more information on betting on the CFL at PlayCanada.com, but the main differences between NFL and CFL betting are below.
Advantages of Betting on the CFL
There are lots of reasons to check out the CFL, here are the main advantages when it comes to betting:
- More information if you’re Canadian – If you’re betting in Canada, you’re able to find a lot more information about the CFL games. This sport is covered in most major newspapers and news channels, meaning you’ll be able to do plenty of research before placing your bet.
- A smaller league – The CFL is much smaller than the NFL, with just nine teams rather than 32. Although this means fewer betting opportunities, it makes researching each game much quicker and easier.
- Higher scoring – Compared to the NFL, Canadian football games tend to be much higher scoring. As a wide-open league that encourages a lot of passing and open play, it tends to be more fun to bet on, especially if you like betting on point totals.
Disadvantages of Betting on the CFL
Although the CFL can be a lot of fun to bet on, most bettors still prefer the NFL. The main reasons are these disadvantages of betting on the CFL:
- Fewer opportunities – Although a smaller league means it’s easier to do research on each game, it also means there are fewer games to bet on. The CFL season is just eighty-one games compared to the NFL’s regular season of two hundred and seventy-two.
- Less popular – As a league, the CFL is far less popular than the NFL. This can mean there’s not as much analysis and data available. It also means that fewer news channels and sites will cover games, meaning that research can sometimes be harder if you’re not in Canada.
- Consistency – With a higher level of ability in the NFL, results tend to be more predictable and consistent compared to the CFL. In the NFL, the biggest and best teams will usually always win their home games, and it’s usually easier to predict outcomes. This means that betting on the underdog is generally more profitable in the CFL, but betting, in general, can be trickier.