Futures Betting 101

Canadian sports betting sites offer a number of different types of wagers. If you are new to the activity, you should gain an understanding of all your options, and futures betting is one of them. You can potentially take home some big paydays in the futures betting markets.

Most wagers are placed on games that are going to be resolved shortly after you make the bet. With sports futures betting, long-term prognostication is necessary, and this is an element that makes this type of wagering unique.

We are going to share everything you need to know about the futures, and we also have information about moneyline betting , point spread betting and totals betting on this site.

As the name would indicate when you place a futures bet, you are wagering on something that is going to happen in the future. The most common types of future bets revolve around team accomplishments.

There will be future bet odds posted on the team that is going to win the World Series, the Super Bowl, the Grey Cup, the Stanley Cup playoffs, the NBA title and college championships. You will also see futures odds for the winners of leagues, divisions, and conferences.

If you place a futures bet on a team to win the World Series, you have action as long as your team still has a chance to win it all. You get great value when you place a futures bet because you have a vested interest in the outcome of every game that involves the team you bet on.

There is another level to this dynamic. Yes, you can pull for the team you supported, and you can also root against all the other teams, so you have multilayered interests.

In addition to futures on a team winning a title, there are player futures as well. You can bet on the player that will win the NHL MVP award, the Heisman Trophy, the MLB Cy Young Award, the Rookie of the Year and other individual awards.

Established 2016

Total Sports The number of different sports you can bet on

Cash Out Can you cash out of bets before an event has finished?

34

Yes

Bet Builder Can you create your own personalised bets?

Free Bet Value

Yes

300

Visit Site

19+. T&C Apply. Play Responsibly

Established 1997

Total Sports The number of different sports you can bet on

Cash Out Can you cash out of bets before an event has finished?

26

Yes

Bet Builder Can you create your own personalised bets?

Free Bet Value

Yes

30

Visit Site

Must be 19+ to participate. T&Cs apply. Play Responsibly.

Established 2018

Total Sports The number of different sports you can bet on

Cash Out Can you cash out of bets before an event has finished?

26

Yes

Bet Builder Can you create your own personalised bets?

Free Bet Value

Yes

600

Visit Site

Visit BetMGM.com for T&Cs. Must be 19+. ON Only. New Customer Offer. All promotions are subject to qualification and eligibility requirements. Rewards issued as non-withdrawable bonus bets. Bonus bets expire in 7 days from issuance. Please Play Responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact ConnexOntario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor, free of charge.

The moneyline is utilized for the futures markets, and it can yield positive or negative returns. For example, at the time of this writing, new betting sites in Canada are taking wagers on the Buffalo Bills to win the Super Bowl at +550. You would win C$550 for a C$100 bet if the Bills pull it off.

Because there are so many different teams competing for an overall championship, in most cases, all of them will yield positive returns. However, you may see negative odds for division winners and other smaller groupings.

You have to consider the potential payout when it comes to futures odds. Let’s say that the Bills are -600 to win the AFC East. Is it wise to put up C$600 and wait four or five months to collect a C-note if all goes well? Most seasoned sports bettors would say that the money can be put to better use.

Picking the most likely winner is not the objective when you are handicapping the futures. It’s a risk/reward equation, so the idea is to identify the teams that are undervalued in the futures betting markets.

The fact that you have long-term action when you place futures bets is positive on the one hand because you get a lot of excitement for your money. On the other side of the coin, a portion of your bankroll is going to be tied up for an extended period of time.

You have to balance these two factors when considering the sports betting futures markets. If the potential payouts will be significant, the investment can be justified. But as we have stated, you probably do not want to leave your money in limbo as you hope that you will receive a modest return.

Generally speaking, a sports bettor cannot decide to cancel a futures bet because this would defeat the purpose. You are taking a risk-based on a future outcome with full knowledge that the circumstances can change.

So, the answer is no, you cannot cancel your sports betting futures wager on the Kansas City Chiefs to win the Super Bowl if Patrick Mahomes suffers a season-ending injury.

However, futures bets can be refunded when it is necessary and fair, and this happened recently. The 2020 NCAA tournament was canceled due to COVID-19 concerns, and sports betting sites refunded March Madness futures wagers.

There is no standard rule that applies to every sports betting site, but they basically adhere to the same policies. Before you make a futures bet, you can read the fine print to gain an understanding of the terms of the wager and the reasons why a bet may be refunded.

NFL Futures Betting

NFL football is very popular in Canada, and NFL futures markets attract a great deal of action. As we have touched upon, you can make a bet on the Super Bowl futures , and there are futures odds for NFL division and conference winners.

The sportsbooks will update the betting odds on an ongoing basis throughout the season, and the probabilities can change dramatically. If a team goes on a sustained roll, the odds will reflect their dominance, and the odds will get longer and longer when a team is consistently struggling.

The vast majority of the wagers in this market are NFL team futures, and there are also player futures. These are examples of common futures bets for the individual NFL player awards:

• MVP

• Comeback Player of the Year
• Offensive Player of the Year
• Defensive Player of the Year
• Offensive Rookie of the Year
• Defensive Rookie of the Year
• NFL Passing Leader
• NFL Rushing Leader
• NFL Receiving Leader

You can enjoy a great deal of diverse action if you get involved in this futures market. However, injuries are extremely common in the game of football, so you are taking a calculated risk when you wager on the player futures market.

We also have the CFL here in Canada, so football fans get a healthy dose of the sport they love. You can make CFL futures bets as well, and the options are similar to the NFL futures.

NBA Futures Betting

The NBA regular season is played in order to separate the contenders from the pretenders, and the real season begins when playoff time rolls around. Sportsbooks post odds to win each NBA division, the Eastern and Western Conference NBA futures odds and the NBA finals futures odds.

Individual NBA player futures odds are established for basketball as well, and the different categories are similar for all of the professional sports in Canada and the U.S. As the season goes on, the odds will continually be adjusted as more and more current information becomes available.

With regard to the NBA MVP futures, there is an important consideration that some people overlook. This award is almost always going to go to a player that is on a winning team. If you are considering two players with equal potential, you should evaluate the strength of their respective squads.

Voters will usually side with a player on a successful team if his main competition for the award is on a lesser team. Some people think that this is not fair because the award is based on the player’s performance, but at the end of the day, winning is the name of the game.

Established 2016

Acca Insurance Refund or free bet when one selection in an accumulator lets the bet down

Loyalty Programme

No

Yes

Sports Acca Insurance

Max Stake

N/A

N/A

Visit Site

19+. T&C Apply. Play Responsibly

Established 1997

Acca Insurance Refund or free bet when one selection in an accumulator lets the bet down

Loyalty Programme

Yes

Yes

Sports Acca Insurance

Max Stake

5

25

Visit Site

Must be 19+ to participate. T&Cs apply. Play Responsibly.

Established 2014

Acca Insurance Refund or free bet when one selection in an accumulator lets the bet down

Loyalty Programme

No

Yes

Sports Acca Insurance

Max Stake

N/A

N/A

Visit Site

19+, T&C'S Apply

The World Series is the culmination of the long strong>MLB season, and it is a lot of fun to watch the Fall Classic when you have a live World Series futures bet. There will be odds posted for the MLB division futures along with MLB league futures.

You can bet on player award futures like the eventual Cy Young Award winner, American League and National League Gold Glove winners and all the other individual awards. In baseball, the bias toward players on winning teams is not as impactful as it is in the NFL.

NHL Futures Betting

Hockey is the most popular sport in Canada, and fans of the National Hockey League are not left out of the team futures markets. You can place a wager on the Stanley Cup futures , and there are NHL division futures along with NHL conference futures odds .

It is important to understand the fact that you can play more than one team in the futures markets for a particular sport. As long as the odds are long enough, you can still make a profit if you bet multiple teams to win the championship.

If you are a really good prognosticator (or really lucky), you can find yourself tuning into the final game with a positive money wager on both sides.

Soccer Futures Betting

The futures betting odds for soccer or European football are more limited because of the nature of the game. You can bet on the winner of the English Premier League, and the online sportsbooks offer odds to win the MLS. World Cup futures are in the mix as well.

Golf Futures Betting

Playing golf is challenging and addictive, but most people would say that is not the most gripping spectator sport in the world. This may be true if you do not have any action on the outcome, but if you bet PGA golf futures, the interest level intensifies.

The online sportsbooks set future odds for the player that will win each tournament on the PGA Tour, with an emphasis on the four majors: the USPGA, U.S. Open, the Open Championship, and Masters futures odds .

UFC Futures Betting

UFC futures are on the board at the online sportsbooks, and mixed martial arts fighting and betting action complement one another. You will always see the current futures odds for all of the events that are on the schedule each year.

Boxing Futures Betting

In spite of the surging popularity of the UFC, traditional boxing is alive and well in the United States, and Las Vegas is the epicenter. You have intense mano-a-mano competition in the gambling capital of the universe, so boxing futures have always attracted a lot of action.

NCAAF Futures Betting

College football betting is right behind the NFL and the CFL on the popularity scale in Canada, and it provides an advantage to bettors because there are so many individual games each week. The NCAAF betting menu includes conference futures, college bowl game futures and eventual champion odds.

The sports betting sites will post odds to win the Heisman Trophy as well, and you can sometimes find significant overlays in this futures betting market. There are 65 teams in the Power Five conferences alone, so before the season starts, dozens of players have a legit shot at the Heisman hardware.

NCAAB Futures Betting

College basketball generates a lot of betting interest throughout the entire season, and you can bet on single games and the futures. There are NCAA basketball conference futures , and you will be on the edge of your seat during March Madness if you have a futures wager on your favourite team.

Political Futures Betting

You may see news stories about the odds to win elections, and there is huge betting interest in the presidential races. Legal sports betting in Canada is still in its infancy, so the availability of election betting is undetermined.

Entertainment Futures Betting

Entertainment futures betting is a wager on Academy Award winners and other entertainment-related awards. The betting markets for the Oscars include Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress.

For your information, Nomadland supporters took home the money, but it was a heavy favourite with paltry -670 odds.

Established 1997

TV/Awards/Music Betting

Politics Betting

Yes

Yes

Manager Sack Race Betting

Acca Insurance Refund or free bet when one selection in an accumulator lets the bet down

No

Yes

Visit Site

Must be 19+ to participate. T&Cs apply. Play Responsibly.

Established 2016

TV/Awards/Music Betting

Politics Betting

Yes

Yes

Manager Sack Race Betting

Acca Insurance Refund or free bet when one selection in an accumulator lets the bet down

No

No

Visit Site

19+. T&C Apply. Play Responsibly

Established 2018

TV/Awards/Music Betting

Politics Betting

No

No

Manager Sack Race Betting

Acca Insurance Refund or free bet when one selection in an accumulator lets the bet down

No

No

Visit Site

Visit BetMGM.com for T&Cs. Must be 19+. ON Only. New Customer Offer. All promotions are subject to qualification and eligibility requirements. Rewards issued as non-withdrawable bonus bets. Bonus bets expire in 7 days from issuance. Please Play Responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact ConnexOntario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor, free of charge.

You can place your futures bets at any of the online sportsbooks that are operating in your province. However, there are many to choose from, and you would not know where to begin if you are new to sports betting.

This is fully understandable, and this is where we can enter the picture to provide guidance. Our researchers have put all of the sportsbooks under the microscope, and you can check out our Canada sportsbook reviews before you make any decisions.