SNBET lists the top MLB betting providers that serve the legal Ontario market and all of the rest of Canada. We know that for many sports fans across the country, baseball is by far their favourite sport, so we're going to examine what you can expect when it comes to how these operators approach MLB betting. We'll look at the available MLB betting markets, futures, odds margins and more.
Money Line: This is the betting market to play when you want to bet on the winner of a given MLB game.
Run Line: This is the main handicap market in MLB games. It revolves around a 'line' of -1.5 runs / +1.5 runs. If you bet on the team that is assigned the '-1.5', this means that to win your wager, your team needs to win by two runs. If you bet on the team that has been assigned '+1.5', this means that to win your bet, your team must not lost by more than 2 runs. To win your bet, the +1.5 team can lose by one, or even win the game.
Total: This is the main Over/Under MLB betting market for the total number of runs that will be scored in a given game. The sportsbook sets the line, usually like 6.5, 7.5, 8.5 and so on. You can then bet if the total number of runs will be 'Over' or 'Under' this 'line'.
For these three main MLB game betting markets, you will want to see odds margins that are in the 5% to range. As a rule of thumb, to see odds margins in this region, you can look to see what things look like when the odds on both sides of an event are essentially the same, if not identical. If you see odds that resemble -110/-110 or 1.91/1.91 as reflected by American or Decimal odds formats, these indicate an odds margin of just under 5%, which is fairly good value. If you see even higher odds - then great, you are getting even better value.
However, if you see odds of -115/-115 or 1.87/1.87, the sportsbook is keeping nearly 7% of money wagered on the given betting market. Don't read this as only a 2% difference between 5% and 7%. Read it as an odds margin that is 40% percent higher, than the more competitive betting site. If you'd like to stay profitable, this odds margin disparity can make a huge difference.
MLB futures betting refers to the betting markets that revolve around events in an MLB season that will resolve further into the future than typical games. The most popular MLB futures market is the World Series Winner market, sometimes called the MLB outright winner.
Other MLB futures markets can include a bet on the American League Winner, or the National League winner. You might also futures betting markets on the various division winners in the regular season.
You can also bet on the players or managers that will win the various end of season awards, like the MVP, the Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, Manager of the Year and so on.
If you want to bet on the Jays, betting sites that only serve Canada can often see their odds get beaten down, since they take so much action from Jays fans within there Canada-only customer-base. International brands that also happen to serve Ontario and Canada take wagers from a wider market and thus the betting action is more spread out among the possible bets, and less concentrated on the Jays, leaving their odds sometimes significantly higher. At the time of writing on February 8, 2022 here are some World Series outright winner odds for the Jays, that demonstrate what we mean, with three Canada-only brands first:
Bet99: +900 or 10.00
SIA: +900 or 10.00
Bodog: +900 or 10.00
At the same moment, here are the World Series Winner odds from SNBET's more 'international' brands that will be licensed Ontario betting sites, but will also serve the rest of Canada from the 'grey market' jurisdictions of Gibraltar and Malta:
BetVictor +1100 or 12.00
Betsafe: +1000 or 11.00
That's 20% and 10% premiums over the Canada-only brands, and an example about why odds comparison can really matter when it comes to outright winner betting markets. Odds can often vary even more than this.
When it comes to MLB, our top listed betting sites cover a huge array of player props within ever game. Bet on player hits, doubles, triples, home runs, steals, runs etc. Bet on results at the end of 3 innings, 5 innings or other set durations that are different than the normal, typical final result.
Baseball is a game that has its own unique pace. Unlike hockey, basketball or soccer that have relatively few stoppages, the constant pauses between at bats, or even between pitches gives bettors the opportunity to find interesting in-play betting market value as a game unfolds.
The problem you are faced with is whether or not your betting site of interest offers proper coverage of MLB games with an array of live, in-play betting markets. All the betting sites that we list offer extensive in-play coverage or Major League Baseball, as they are so focused on the Canadian market, and is some cases, US state markets. Offering in-play MLB coverage at a high level is a requirement if they are to serve these markets properly.