A game of precision and sharply refined teamwork, curling always manages to draw in the punters when it comes around at the Winter Olympics.
For Canadian bettors, it helps that the country has a strong track record, collecting a total of six gold, three silver, and three bronze medals to rank as the best nation in the sport.
While the Olympics presents the epitome of curling, there are plenty of other tournaments that fans and bettors can delve into each year. Here, we’re breaking down how curling betting works and how to place curling bets.
Curling Betting: Game Lines
Whether it’s the Olympic Winter Games, Paralympic Winter Games, World Curling Championship, or the European Curling Championships, if a high-tier game of curling is on, you’ll often find these betting game lines.
How to Bet on the Spread for Curling
The spread is a very popular form of betting in Canada and the US. The game line places a handicap on the favourite to bring their odds closer to evens as well as a buffer for the underdog team.
For example, Great Britain against Canada at the Winter Olympics may see Canada as the strong favourites. So, on the spread, Canada gets a handicap of -3.5 to win.
This means that Canada needs to bet Great Britain by at least 3.5 points (or rather four points, as you can’t get half points in curling) to win a bet on the spread.
For Great Britain as the underdogs – given the flip handicap of +3.5 – they can still lose in the game but win your bet. If they lose by a scoreline of three points or less, or even win the game, that spread bet will come in.
How to Bet on Totals for Curling
Totals betting is the most straightforward of all game lines in curling betting. You get two options, the under and over, for a set points total. You’re betting on the whole scoreline to get under or over that figure.
Coming into the game of Sweden against Japan, it was expected to be a low-scoring game. So, the under and over options for totals betting sat at over 13.5 points and under 13.5 points, with both given odds close to evens.
Should the game end 8-5 in favour of Japan, a total of 13 points were scored in total. As such, all bets on the under 13.5 points game line would win.
Totals bets for curling always focus on the total number of points scored by both teams in the game at hand.
How to Bet on the Moneyline for Curling
The moneyline betting market for curling asks you to pick which team you think will win. If you think the Korea Republic will beat Switzerland, back the Asian nation on the moneyline.
It’s on the moneyline that you’ll encounter the odds that best reflect how the oddsmakers predict the game will go.
So, close games will offer odds closer to evens for both teams, while mismatches give the favourites short odds and the underdogs longer odds.
In a game between the Korea Republic and Switzerland, based on the women’s curling at the 2022 Winter Olympics, you’d likely get moneyline odds of +500 for Korea and -350 for the Swiss as the European team was so dominant.
Curling Betting: Team Futures
In curling betting, game line bets offer odds for specific games, while team futures give you odds on the outcomes of entire competitions or tournaments.
When there’s a major event on, such as the World Championship or Winter Olympics, you’ll be able to get team futures odds on the winners of each competition within those events, such as men’s, women’s, and mixed doubles curling.
How to Bet on Curling Competition Winners
To bet on curling competition winners, you’ll need to go to the curling page, select the futures tab at the top of the screen – changing from game lines to outright betting – and then open the competition’s tab.
Here, you’ll get a long list of odds for every single team still participating or set to participate in the tournament. Once you find your preferred team, select their odds and then place the bet.
These bets purely back a team to win the whole tournament. Your selection needs to raise the trophy or claim the gold medals if it’s to win your curling team futures bet.
Curling Betting: Live and In-play
When the major tournaments are in full swing, you can trust that the live betting markets will be ready throughout every game. So, even if you miss the start, you’ll be able to place your curling bets!
Live betting works by giving you odds that reflect the current scores of the game. You can tap on those odds and quickly bet on them in-play; if they win, you’ll get your payout all the same.
Curling Betting: Parlay Bets
Parlay betting in curling is a method of getting enhanced odds by combining multiple selections into one single bet. You get better odds, but you do need all of your selections to win if your bet is to come in.
You can place a parlay bet with as few as two selections or as many as 15 in some instances. You’ll be able to combine one of the game line curling bets from each game into your parlay.
With your bet slip populated with as many compatible selections as you want, the final parlay odds will be calculated by multiplying the odds together.
Top Curling Competitions for Betting
If you’re planning to do some curling betting this year or in the years to come, these are the top competitions and rough dates to note on the calendar:
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Olympic Winter Games (quadrennial, next one in 2026)
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Paralympic Winter Games (quadrennial, next one in 2026)
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World Women’s Curling Championship (annual, March)
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World Men’s Curling Championship (annual, late March or early April)
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European Curling Championships (annual, November)
Now you know the curling competitions to watch out for and how to bet on them!
*Credit for all images in this article belongs to Alamy*
