Sportsbook Affiliate Weekly - NHL Playoffs

In this week’s article we will preview the NHL playoffs and how to best target Canadian traffic. The playoffs are quick approaching, pucks drop April 13th , times is running out to get your hockey material up. Canadians contribute $13.75 billion dollars a year in net gambling revenue at land based casinos and generate millions in revenue online.

Canadians love their hockey, a game that is said to have built the countries heritage. This April will be like any other year as all of Canada watches to see who will become this year’s Stanley Cup champions. During this time we see hockey betting provide a huge boost at the sportsbooks. Canadians like to gamble, the gambling industry in Canada is larger than the magazine, book, spectator sport, movie theatre and performing arts combined.

Across the border in the United States the NHL playoffs are overshadowed by the NBA playoffs, Americans have never had much on an interest in the NHL including affiliates. The NHL is a very less competitive niche and ranking can be done much easier in NHL playoffs than for the NBA but search numbers are less respectively.

The NHL is a Canadian dominated market but there are still plenty of fish to go for from America. So when choosing a brand to promote it is good to think in mind of Canadian Traffic. Living in the fine country of Canada, I have an inside scoop on what sportsbook convert well. Currently Bodog is trying to make their self dominant in the country; they have been putting millions into advertisement with ads on every sports radio and T.V station in Canada as well as advertisements at spectator sports and billboards. I believe offline advertisements only helps affiliates convert online building trust with their offline campaigns. SportsInteraction has always been a preferred sportsbook in Canada with their head office located on Canadian soil. Betonline, sportsbook.com and bet365 round up the top 5 sportsbooks in Canada, an additional tip is not to promote BetUS to Canadian as they are restricted to register, although BetUS is very active in NHL betting and have excellent promotional banners. BetUS would be one of the best sportsbooks to promote to U.S hockey bettors.

This year’s playoffs only consist of two Canadian teams; Vancouver and Montreal, all the matchups can be seen below;
Eastern conference

Washington Capitals vs. New York Rangers
Philadelphia Flyers vs Buffalo Sabres
Boston Bruins vs Montreal Canadiens
Pittsburgh Penguins vs Tampa Bay Lightning
Western Conference
Vancouver Canucks vs Chicago Blackhawks
San Jose Sharks vs Los Angeles Kings
Detroit Red Wings vs Phoenix Coyotes
Anaheim Ducks vs Nashville Predators