The National Hockey League hasn’t publicly taken a stand on legal sports betting, but the NHL did sign sponsorship agreements with bookmakers that include access to in-game data. Other teams, including the Vegas Golden Knights, have similar arrangements with bookmakers. These partnerships are known as official betting and help to keep the odds on winning bets honest and fair.

A sports book offers a variety of wagering options, such as if bets, exactas, trifectas and superfectas. An if bet consists of at least two straight bets joined by an if clause, which determines the wager process. If the first selection complies with the if clause, then the second selection will have action; if the second selection complies with the if clause, the third selection will have action, and so on. An exacta entails picking the first two finishers in the correct order; a quinella involves picking the first two finishers in any order; and a trifecta box consists of the first three finishers in exacta order, an extremely difficult wager to hit but one that pays huge sums.

A person who makes a bet on any WBSC event that is in violation of this subsection shall be guilty of a class 1 misdemeanor. “WBSC event” means any game in a tournament or multigame event in which a youth sports team or Virginia college sports team is a participant. This prohibition does not prohibit betting on other games in a tournament or multigame event, as long as those other games do not have a youth sports or Virginia college sports team as a participant.