CFL Betting at Bally Bet Sportsbook

Although not as globally popular as the NFL, the CFL – or Canadian Football League to give it its full name – still has a growing and very active fanbase across North America and further afield.

There are the East and West divisions and the final championship game, the Grey Cup, which has been contested for decades. And what’s more, the CFL campaign takes place between June and October, so it’s a fantastic option for football betting while the NFL enjoys its offseason.

You can try CFL betting for yourself right here at Bally Bet, where we've got Canadian Football League odds and lines for a number of states through our sportsbook. All of your favorite markets – from moneyline and spreads to totals, props, and parlays – are available, so if you love wagering on football, this is a solid option.

Read on to find out how to wager on CFL games and futures, and why Bally Bet should be your first pick when it comes to CFL betting.

Popular CFL Bets

If you’ve ever placed a bet on the NFL or the Super Bowl, you’ll already have a good idea of how to read CFL betting lines.

But if football wagering is completely new to you, there are a few key markets and lines that will be front and center as you learn how to bet on the CFL.

Moneyline

This is the easiest football betting market to understand. With a moneyline bet, you are simply predicting which of the teams will win the game.

You may see lines like "BC Lions -150, Ottawa Redblacks +100." These numbers are the moneyline odds for each franchise. The further the negative number is from zero, the hotter the favorite is supposed to be. The larger the positive number, the more of an outsider that team appears.

Of course, shock results happen all the time in every sport, so these odds should be used as an instructive guide only as to how a ball game may play out.

Spread

Like moneyline wagering, with CFL spread betting you’re predicting which team will clear their spread, which is a hypothetical head start or handicap placed on the two teams.

Here, a line like "BC Lions -4.5, Ottawa Redblacks +4.5" might show up. These numbers indicate the spread – a negative number takes points off the team’s final score, while a positive number adds that spread to it.

For example, let’s say that the BC Lions win 30-22. In this scenario, -4.5 spread bets on them would win, because 30 minus the -4.5 spread equals 25.5, which is still greater than Ottawa’s 22.

If the game finished 30-28 to the BC Lions, however, +4.5 spread bets on Ottawa would win. That 4.5-point head start would hypothetically take them to 32.5 after the spread gets added.

Totals

If you believe that a particular game will be high or low-scoring, perhaps in the latter case due to the two teams being out of form or playing in challenging weather conditions, you might opt to bet on the totals market instead.

Sportsbooks will offer a line for the number of points they believe will be scored, for example, 60.5. You can bet the over if you believe there will be 61+ points scored, or the bet the under if you think that 60 or fewer points are likely.

Later on in this article, we’ll provide you with some CFL betting tips that should help when planning totals bets.

Props

You’ll find a variety of team and player props available here at Bally Bet.

These range from team points, touchdowns, and yards gained to similar markets for individual players. If you want to take a deeper dive with your bets, you’ll find a huge selection of props to help you do that.

Futures

A futures bet is one that can last all season long, but they can also take shape across a number of days and weeks.

Popular CFL futures include betting on who will win the East or West Division, who will make the playoffs and, of course, who will go on to lift the Grey Cup at the end of the campaign.

Parlays

A parlay is a single bet that incorporates two or more selections. So, if you wanted to wager on two different CFL moneylines, you could add them to your ticket as a parlay and see your potential payout calculated from the multiplied odds.

That higher reward comes with more potential risk, though. Only one pick of your parlay has to lose in order for the entire bet to settle as a loss as well.

You can use Bally Bet Sportsbook to place standard parlays as well as our same game parlay option. With this type of parlay, you can combine moneyline, spread, totals and prop bets on a single game into one ticket.

Teasers

CFL Live Betting

Some bettors place their CFL wagers at the first show, which is when the odds are first published. Others wait until closer to kickoff, while some will wait until the action is underway.

There are potential advantages to betting early – you can scoop up any early value plays as you see them. But there can be pros to waiting for game night as well, too. This way, you get to see the team news before you place your wagers and get a closer look at any weather conditions that may have an impact on the outcome of a game.

Many of our most popular CFL bet types are available in-game, and that includes moneylines, totals, and spreads. Prop markets that change as the game progresses are available here, too.

CFL Betting Tips

As with every other sport, there are no CFL betting tips that can guarantee your bets will be successful time after time.

But there are some pieces of advice that may just take you a step closer to picking out a winner or two.

Do your own research

Giant killings and upsets happen all the time, so there’s never any guarantee that a betting favorite will win.

But, with a little research, you can identify nuggets of information that might help you understand how a game will play out.

The league standings and team form are obvious starting points, but look out for head-to-head records, too – some teams really do struggle on the road at certain franchises where the conditions are not to their liking, e.g. the weather is warmer or colder than they are used to, or there’s a higher altitude that affects the quarterback’s passing.

Player stats are also a useful indicator, particularly when used in conjunction with the latest team news and roster updates; the absence of a key quarterback or wide receiver can change the entire landscape of a game.

Strength of schedule

Sometimes, the league standings don’t tell the true tale of how a team is playing. That’s why studying the Strength of Schedule is often a good idea.

A franchise may have lost three games in a row, but if they were against high-quality opposition – and their losing margin was small – you might actually consider that to be a positive, rather than negative, form line.

On the flip side, a team may be on a hot streak, but if they’re only just scraping by against weak opposition - and then have a game against a more challenging rival - it may be an indicator that their form could soon go the other way.

Choose your bets wisely

With so many different CFL bet types to explore, it can be easy to lose sight of which markets are your most favorable.

So, why not concentrate on one particular niche? It might be predicting who will beat their spread, how many points will be scored in a game, or even how a certain player performs against their prop markets.

Some bets, such as the moneyline, favor the risk-averse, whereas spreads and parlays are there for bettors who want to branch out a little bit.

There’s plenty of contradictory information online about football betting strategies, from the "wisdom of the crowd," e.g. following the betting money, to the polar opposite of going against the public betting movements.

Our advice is to find your own niche, bet small increments of your bankroll (maybe around 2%), and simply use your betting as a way to enhance your enjoyment of the game.

CFL Betting vs. NFL Betting

One of the great things about CFL betting is that it mirrors what you’ll find in the NFL, with the same bet types and lines available.

It’s true to say that there’s more market depth and coverage with the NFL, because that’s the most popular football competition on the planet – with the most recognizable franchises and players.

But there are plenty of high-quality operators in the CFL too, plus that premium time slot in the summer when the NFL has been put on ice temporarily.

So, if you enjoy betting on the NFL regular season, playoffs, and the Super Bowl, you’ll be delighted to hear that CFL betting ticks many of the same boxes.