Curling betting comes down to the match winner, a handicap in points and the total points, and every one of those prices turns on the hammer: the last stone of each end, which the team that did not score in the previous end gets. A team scores one point for each of its stones closer to the center of the house than any of the opponent’s, and only one team can score in an end, so the hammer is the edge every line is priced around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The biggest events are the Winter Olympics, the World Championships, played in March and April in 2026, and Canada’s national championships, the Brier for men and the Scotties Tournament of Hearts for women. At the 2026 Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Canada won the men’s gold and Sweden won both the women’s event and mixed doubles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
World Curling’s rules set the game. A team has four players, and each delivers two stones an end, so each team throws eight stones. When all 16 are thrown, the team with the stone closest to the tee scores one point for each of its stones in or touching the house that is closer than the opponent’s best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Three rules shape the betting:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The concession rule matters for totals. A 10-end game conceded after 8 has two fewer ends of scoring, so a lopsided game can finish under a total it would otherwise have passed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The markets to look for:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For an outright price, convert it to a chance first. A +200 price implies 33.3% and a +800 price implies 11.1%. An outright bet is worth making only when you rate the team’s chance higher than the price does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first-end hammer is set before the game, by a last-stone draw or a coin toss under World Curling’s rules. After that, the order changes only when someone scores, because the scoring team throws first in the next end. A blanked end, where nobody scores, leaves the hammer where it was, which is why a team holding it will sometimes clear the house rather than take a single point and give the last stone away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For a live bettor, the hammer is the first thing to check at every break. A team trailing by 2 with the hammer in the last scheduled end needs 2 points to force an extra end and 3 to win outright, while the team without it wins by holding them to 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2026 season, by event:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Canada reached both world finals in 2026 and lost both. Einarson, the Scotties winner, lost the women’s final to Switzerland, and Dunstone, the Brier winner, lost the men’s final to Sweden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2026 men’s and women’s World Championships used the same format: a 13-team round robin, then the top six into the playoffs, where the top two get a bye and the other four play a qualification round for the semifinals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A long round robin gives a futures bettor something to watch. Twelve games each is enough to see which teams are shooting well on that ice, and at the 2026 women’s event Australia, playing its first World Women’s Championship, beat Norway 7-6 in an extra end in Draw 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The next Winter Olympics are in 2030, with three curling events on the 2026 program: men’s, women’s and mixed doubles. Sweden took two of the three 2026 golds and Canada the third, and 14 nations sent teams to Cortina, which is the field an early Olympic outright market starts from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the terms used above, see our betting terminology guide<\/a>. For the pick services, see our handicapper site reviews<\/a>, and before you pick a book, our sportsbook reviews<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n