Now, it’s time to look at Calgary Flames betting odds and how they affect your success. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Flames betting lines are arguably the most important part of betting because not only do they communicate the implied probability of a bet being successful, they also transmit the potential payout on each Flames betting market and prop.
Understanding odds is one of the first things to get done when learning how to bet on Flames games, and in North America, odds are generally displayed in the American style. American odds are displayed with either a “-” or a “+” next to a number, and the distinction between the two is crucial.
When you see a “-” next to a betting market, that means that team is the favorite, or if it’s a prop, the “-” means that prop is more likely to happen than not. The number next to the “-” also refers to how much money you need to bet to win $100. Therefore, the larger the number next to the “-” the lower your payout and the higher your implied probability of winning the bet.
Conversely, the “+” means that a team is the underdog, or if it’s a prop, that the prop is more likely not to happen. The number next to the “+” also refers to how much money you stand to win on a $100 bet. So, the larger the number next to the “+” the higher your payout and the lower your implied probability of winning the bet.
For example, say you’re betting on the odds for the Flames to win the Cup and they’re sitting at +800 before the season starts, that means that a $100 bet would net you $800 in profit. You don’t have to bet in increments of $100, but the payout is scaled proportionally to a $100 bet. If, say, the Flames turn out to be a lot better than people thought, their odds to win the Stanley Cup will shorten to, say, -150, meaning they’re now favorites and a $150 bet on them would net you $100.
If you’re betting on player props, you might see a betting market like “Tyler Toffoli (Anytime) - +300.” Anytime generally refers to an anytime goalscorer market, so if Toffoli scores at any point in the game (other than in a shootout) a bettor would be set to win $300 on a $100 bet.
Betting on a single game is pretty simple, as the “-” denotes the favorite and the “+” denotes the underdog for that matchup. In rarer cases the teams will be so evenly matched that they both have the “-” and in that case the team with the larger number next to the “-” would be the favorite.
For the puckline, you’ll always see -1.5 next to the favorite and +1.5 next to the underdog. For example, you might see a betting line that goes “Calgary Flames -1.5: +200.” This means that if the Flames win by 2+ goals you win $200 on a $100 bet. While the Flames are the favorites to win here, they are not favorites to cover the puck line, meaning the sportsbooks are expecting a Calgary win, but not by more than one goal.