Online Sports Betting BC
Oddsshark is here to help with our breakdown of the best sports betting sites for British Columbia bettors, grading their app user ratings, user experience, live streaming, same game parlays, payout speeds, and more. Our betting experts also identify each sportsbook’s strengths and weaknesses, helping you find the betting site that is the best fit for you.
Sports Betting BC Quick Facts
How We Rank BC Sportsbooks
No stone goes unturned in our rankings of the top British Columbia sports betting sites, ensuring you find the best — and safest — sportsbook for you.
Our three-layered approach begins with each sportsbook’s nuts and bolts, including critical information about availability in your region, payout options, ratings from mobile app users, and more. We also analyze and rank each sportsbook in six different categories: Bonus Availability, Sports Odds Variety, User Experience, Safety & Security, Regional Availability, and Payout Speed.
Next, an experienced betting expert fact-checks our review to ensure the rankings are based on the most recent and accurate information. Finally, the review is passed onto our publishers, who give the green light to go live.
This thorough quality assurance process is complemented by unique features that help you envision your betting experience before you even sign up. Each review features a bulleted “strengths and weaknesses” category, a section about apps and features, an area that covers customer safety, and a chart that compares that sportsbook to its competitors. That attention to detail is why Odds Shark is considered a premier voice in the sports betting industry, having served as a trusted and reliable source for three decades.
Is Sports Betting Legal in BC?
There may be no province in Canada that has embraced sports betting more than British Columbia. Sports betting became legal in BC in 1985, shortly after Bill C-218 allowed provinces to offer parlay betting on sports, and British Columbia was the first province to feature online sports betting.
PlayNow.com, the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC)’s online sportsbook, has since been adopted by several other provinces, and it remains the home to regulated single-game sports betting in British Columbia. However, British Columbia sports bettors
BC Sports Betting Tips
Whether it’s professional teams in Vancouver, national favorites in baseball and basketball, local minor league teams, or pro squads in neighboring states, there’s no shortage of action to bet on in British Columbia. But before you start wagering your hard-earned cash on which way the puck or ball will bounce tonight, there are a few golden rules that all sports bettors should follow.
The most important thing is to understand that anything can happen in sports, so you should never get carried away. Determine the maximum amount of money that you could afford to lose without it drastically affecting your life (otherwise known as a sports betting bankroll) and then wager a small percentage on that bankroll on every bet you place. Many professionals won’t risk more than 1-2% of their bankroll on a single bet, focusing more on the big picture than making money every day, week, or month.
You’ll also want to make sure you’re constantly looking for the best possible odds (having funded accounts at many different sportsbooks can help), following the latest injury news, monitoring how the betting lines change leading up to the game and using the best British Columbia sports betting sites.
With those tips in mind, you’re ready to get in on the action. The hottest bet in British Columbia is the National Hockey League’s Vancouver Canucks, but the Canadian Football League’s British Columbia Lions are also consistently in the hunt for the Grey Cup and a popular side-to-back for BC residents.
The Toronto Raptors and Toronto Blue Jays are the province’s darlings in the National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball, although some southern BC residents also have an affection for MLB’s Seattle Mariners due to their location in the Pacific Northwest. Speaking of Seattle, the Seahawks are a common team for BC sports bettors to support on NFL Sundays and the NHL’s Kraken has quickly become one of the Canucks’ fiercest rivals.
Rounding out the BC sports betting scene are five Western Hockey League squads, Major League Soccer’s Vancouver Whitecaps, and the Canadian Premier League’s Vancouver FC. Given how many teams reside in Canada’s most western province, no wonder BC has been so influential in the push for legalized online sports betting across the country.
BC Lotteries and Casinos
Oversight and regulation of legalized gambling in BC is provided by the British Columbia Lottery Corporation, which was founded shortly after the Canadian Criminal Code was amended in 1985 to allow provincial lotteries to offer multi-leg sports betting. In addition to its signature PlayNow.com online platform that was launched in 2004, the BCLC hosts gambling facilities in 33 communities across the province, featuring nearly 14,000 slot machines and 500 table games.
Anyone 19 years and older is allowed to gamble in BC at casinos, horse racing tracks and teletheatres, bingos, community gaming centers, lottery retailers, or at a licensed gambling event held in a community. Money generated by gambling in British Columbia is used to provide key services to residents of the province, ranging from health care and education to economic development throughout BC.
How to Sign Up at a BC Sportsbook