Canada’s sports betting landscape has changed, and there are now many regulated sportsbooks in Ontario. While that means a variety of new promotional offers and betting markets to choose from, it also means many more options for the bet types that are already a bit more common.
Of the many betting markets there, there are three main ones, but two get most of the attention. While you may have heard plenty about the moneyline and point spread, it’s the total that goes under the radar.
Over/unders are simple bets to understand and easy to place with Ontario betting apps, but there’s still plenty that goes into betting on them successfully. Read on for our complete guide to betting on the over/under.
Today’s over/under odds in Ontario
With so many leagues and sports to choose from, it can be difficult to keep track of betting odds for everything on a given day. Luckily, we’re doing the line shopping for you and supplying totals odds for a variety of leagues in our table below:
What is an over/under bet?
With totals, also known as over/unders, you’re simply picking whether the combined total of a game will go over or under the total set by oddsmakers. It’s one of the main betting options for all major team sports, and one of the easiest for new bettors to pick up.
While moneyline betting asks you to pick the winner and the spread calls for figuring out which side will cover the spread, totals aren’t concerned with either of those things. It’s all about whether the total combined score of the game will be over or under the sportsbook’s line.
Over/under bets are a popular option at online sportsbooks. They let you focus on the total amount of scoring in a game without worrying about which side will win. The bets are easy to place and simple to understand, and the odds will remain active right up to game time.
The movement in the odds and the total itself can provide you with some valuable clues on which way the betting action is flowing, so keep an eye on that. With study and practice, over/unders can become a fun betting option. Let’s look at an example using CFL odds:
| Teams | Spread | Moneyline | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ottawa Redblacks | +9.5 (-115) | +320 | Over 53.5 (-110) |
| Winnipeg Blue Bombers | -9.5 (-105) | -400 | Under 53.5 (-110) |
The total is prominently displayed on your app and will be easy to recognize. When it comes to football, this number will fluctuate from the 30s to the 50s on the pregame line and similar to spreads, totals also have juice attached to each selection.
Betting on the Over 53.5 (-110) means risking $110 to win $100 and needing 54 points or more in the game to win your wagers. A bet on the Under 53.5 (-110) requires the same $110 risk for $100 in profit but wins if there are 53 or fewer combined points.
While -110 remains the standard starting point for totals, the juice will vary between -125 and +100 on most occasions. If the spread is a whole number and the final score lands right on it, your bet will be graded as a push and it will be void, returning your original stake to the account.
Over/under live betting
Live betting lines present opportunities for bettors to double (or triple) down on their over-under bet at a variety of totals throughout the contest. If you bet an under and can tell that scoring is even harder to come by than you imagined, you can place the same wager on a different total while it drops based on what’s happening in the game.
The other popular option is finding a middle, which involves placing bets on different sides in the same game. The goal is to eliminate risk by betting on the opposing side while creating a middle ground in which the total can land in order to win both bets.
For example, you checked out the MLB odds and bet Over 9.5 in a baseball game. The first few innings feature a few runs and suddenly the total has shifted up to 12.5.
A bettor seeking a middle would place a wager on Under 12.5 in anticipation the game would eventually slow down and regress to a normal pace of scoring. The bettor created a three-run window where both bets can be won if the total is 10, 11, or 12 runs.
Although there is a risk of attempting to middle and ruining a winning bet by adding a second one that loses, it’s a tactic that sharp bettors frequently take to grab two wins at once and build the bankroll.
Over/under bets in the NFL & CFL
For pro football leagues such as the CFL and NFL, totals are set early in the week with movement coming from sportsbooks as well as the betting public and sharp (professional bettors). The two leagues do have some different rules that have led to slightly more scoring in the CFL, but most totals are in the 40s and 50s before a given game.
mostly, many similar scores and we see lots of CFL totals in the 40s and 50s, just like the NFL. Since online sportsbooks tend to offer many more prop markets for NFL than CFL, it’s possible that CFL totals have more of the market looking at them.
Over/under bets in the NBA
In the NBA, betting totals is an entirely different ballgame. As we know, scoring can rise into the triple digits for each team, though there is a huge range of numbers we see with NBA totals. The games that are the highest-scoring will be anywhere up to around 240 points while lower-scoring games stall out close to 200.
As for the odds, the starting point will usually be -110 or 1.91 on both sides. As bets begin to flow in, you may see movement on both sides, such as a split of -108/-112. Anything above -125 or below +100, and the line will shift a half point and potentially reset to -110.
The betting public tends to favour the over, so keep that in mind while doing your research. Try to track the movements from the initial release until you’re ready to bet for clues on where the action is going. At a bare minimum, do some research with sources that you trust.
The NBA plays much more regularly, so research time is more limited. Watch for teams that are in the midst of lengthy road trips or on back-to-back games, as these situations can influence scoring.
Over/under bets in the NHL
Unlike basketball, hockey is a sport where scoring is at a premium because there aren’t too many goals in most games. An NHL betting total can range anywhere from a flat five goals to around seven, though the most common totals will fall between 5.5 and 6.5 goals.
Similar to spreads and puck lines, totals will be the same on both sides and the juice will be the thing that varies. But unlike pick lines, the prices for over/unders tend to be pretty consistent between -120 and +100.
If you’re looking for buy or sell goals for an alternate total, you’ll be able to do so at most Canada online sportsbooks. But remember that each goal will sway the odds a great deal.
As with the NBA, NHL teams can have long road trips or back-to-back games that can sway the scoring. As can injuries or the appearance of a backup goaltender.
Over/under bets in individual sports
Team sports bring in lots of betting at online sportsbooks, but plenty of action also heads in the direction of other competitions. There are a variety of ways to bet on individual sports, and totals are quite popular.
For tennis, you can bet on the number of sets or the number of games in a set. Un IC and boxing, you can bet on the number of rounds. In golf, there are totals for individual round scores.
The odds work the same as they do for team sport betting lines. While they may start at -110 on both sides, betting action can lead to shifts in the numbers. This gives you a good indication of where the public betting action is flowing.
While betting on the outright winner of individual competitions is typically the biggest draw, props also offer a variety of over/under bets. Once the lines become available, take the time to go through all of them and make a note of the ones that pop out to you.
You can make this your shortlist of options that are worth exploring further. From there, do your research as you would for any other wager and see if any appear to be worth a bet.
Prop betting on totals
Props are wagers that aren’t the conventional moneyline, spread, and total. That said, there are still many props that bring an over/under into play, so totals are actually quite popular when it comes to prop bets at online sportsbooks.
The most common prop bets are player props, which focus on individual statistics. For example, you can bet on the total number of points Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews will have in a given game:
- Over 1.5 (+140 or 2.40)
- Under 1.5 (-180 or 1.56)
This covers nearly any major stat in any sport you can think of. In hockey, it’s goals, assists, shots on goal, and points. In the NBA it’s points, rebounds, assists, passing, rushing, and receiving yards in football in addition to touchdowns. Head over to bet on MLB, and you’ll come across hits, runs, RBIs, home runs, and pitcher strikeouts, among other things.
On top of the above options, you will also be able to wager on in-game events not directly associated with a player. This will fall under the game props or team props tabs, which have plenty of additional options.
