Whether it’s on social media, over emails or in person, we love talking to fellow Canadians about sports betting.
Whenever we ask them about where we do their sports betting, we’ve noticed a pretty consistent trend: it’s often a short answer in return.
Most Canadians either just bet with their provincial sports lotteries (Proline, Mise-O-Jeu, etc.), or they have one online sportsbook account (maybe two) that they make all their bets at.
In either case, they’re not giving themselves the best chance to make money.
Having multiple sportsbook accounts makes sense for many different reasons.
Here are the four biggest reasons you should join as many online sportsbooks as you can (or at least several of the best sportsbooks for Canadians.)
1. Bonuses
Cashing in on bonus offers is the most obvious reason to have funded accounts at as many sportsbooks as possible.
Sports Interaction, Bodog, William Hill and BetOnline all offer signup bonuses for new players. If you were to take advantage of them all, you’d have more than $1,000 in free money to bet with!
Sportsbooks also occasionally offer reward bonuses and other perks to their players.
2. Better Odds
At first glance, it might look like all sportsbook odds are the same, or at least very similar.
If the Patriots are -7 at 5Dimes, they’re probably -7 at Pinnacle and 5Dimes as well.
But check out the odds behind those point spreads. 5Dimes may have the Patriots -7 -110, while Pinnacle and 5Dimes may have the Patriots -7 -105.
Those 5 “cents” you’re saving by betting -7 -105 instead of -7 -110 really add up.
The same goes for NHL betting and MLB betting, where you’re constantly betting moneylines. Getting -110 instead of -115, or +130 instead of +125, makes a huge difference over time.
If you don’t think betting odds vary, check out our Live Odds page that displays up-to-the-minute odds at several different sportsbooks. You’ll see plenty of instances where you can save 5 cents or more on a bet.
Pinnacle and 5Dimes are reduced juice sportsbooks that will generally offer the better odds. But it’s still worthwhile having accounts at Bodog and Sports Interaction. Those sportsbooks cater more to recreational players and often inflate the betting lines on favourites, meaning you might get the Raiders +10.5 instead of +10.
Those extra half points on football point spreads and basketball point spreads can turn losses into pushes and pushes into wins. It can easily be enough to increase your winning percentage from break-even 52.38% to the magical 55% that could make you rich!
3. More Variety in Betting Options
Almost every sportsbook offers moneylines, over/under and point spreads (puck lines in hockey or run lines in baseball) in all of the main sports.
But what if you want to bet on something else? Maybe it’s a team total on the 1st 5 innings in baseball; maybe it’s a prop on a particular hockey player; maybe it’s live betting on a college football game.
Different sportsbooks offer different betting options. Pinnacle recently expanded its MLB betting selection to become one of the few books to offer team totals on the 1st 5 innings. Sports Interaction and Bodog focus on NHL betting more than most other sportsbooks.
The more sportsbook accounts you have, the more options you have at your disposal. Even if 5Dimes or William Hill are offering NHL player props, you might not find a prop on whether Galchenyuk will score a goal tonight, but you might find it at SIA or Bodog. And even if the sportsbook you use offers the bet you want to make, you could probably get better odds on that bet elsewhere.
4. Flexibility When Travelling
We spend a lot of time in the United States, whether it’s to catch baseball or football games, enjoy a family vacation, or endure the dreaded cross-border shopping trips.
The U.S. government doesn’t share the same relaxed view on gambling as Canada does. It’s not technically illegal to do online sports betting in the U.S., but the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act of 2006 made it illegal for gambling sites to accept deposits from American residents.
As a result, many sportsbooks don’t accept American customers, and they also don’t allow you to make bets if they detect an American IP address. Even though we’re Canadian, we can’t access Pinnacle, Sports Interaction, and William Hill when we’re south of the border, even on our cell phones. (You could still do it if you used a VPN, but sportsbooks don’t really like that too much.)
This is when we’ll turn to our BetOnline and 5Dimes accounts instead. Both of these sportsbooks service American residents, so they’re happy to book our action when we’re in the U.S. (You can also still use Bodog, even though a popup window will tell you they know you’re in the States and suggest you try Bovada instead.)
There are other places in the world where you may be limited to which sportsbooks you can use as well. If you travel internationally for business or go to the U.S. with some regularity, having multiple sportsbook accounts will help ensure you can always place a bet whenever you want.