2023 Grey Cup odds open, with host Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the middle

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats will host the next Grey Cup, but the oddsmakers rate them as a darkhorse to lift the trophy.

Hamilton has longer odds of winning than it had in the aftermath of the last Canadian Football League season. Opening 2023 Grey Cup odds have the Tiger-Cats, who are coming off of a sub-.500 season and also have uncertainty at quarterback. Starter Dane Evans had a tough, turnover-prone season and erstwhile two-time Most Outstanding Player recipient Bo Levi Mitchell is on the Hamilton roster, although he is a pending free agent who could sign elsewhere.

A futures bet is a wager on an event, series or an award that will often be decided long into the future.

BetOnline has the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, who were shaded by a single point by the Toronto Argonauts in the championship game last Sunday, as a 3/1 favourite. That means a $10 bet today offers a $30 payout if Winnipeg were to recapture the Cup in 2023.

The British Columbia Lions, quarterbacked by Oakville native Nathan Rourke, are second favourite at 17/4 (or +425). The entire board is as follows. The Tiger-Cats are firmly in the middle at 15/2, which means a $10 wager offers a $75 payout.

• Winnipeg: 3/1
• B.C.: 17/4
• Toronto: 11/2
• Calgary: 6/1
• Hamilton: 15/2
• Montréal: 15/2
• Saskatchewan: 9/1
• Ottawa: 12/1
• Edmonton: 16-1

Winnipeg also opened as a 3/1 favourite in the lead-up to the 2022 season, which the Blue Bombers entered as two-time defending champions by virtue of defeating Hamilton in successive Grey Cup games (sandwiched around the COVID-19 cancellation in 2020).

The Tiger-Cats started joint-third on the ’22 board at 5/1. Toronto had the same odds before going on to finish first in the East Division, beating Hamilton 3-of-4 times along the way.

The league’s also-rans are getting a little more respect from the oddsmakers. Ottawa had 25-to-1 odds at the start of last season, even though the CFL has only nine teams, six of which make the playoffs.

Hamilton host in ’23

The Tiger-Cats will be hosting the championship game next November, for the second time in three seasons. Hamilton was awarded the 2020 game initially, then shifted to ’21, when the Grey Cup festival required modifications to stay within COVID-19 health protections. That led to the CFL naming Hamilton host again in rapid succession.

More often than not in the CFL, the host city can end up falling short of the final. Last fall, the Tiger-Cats were defeated 33-25 by Winnipeg in overtime. But the previous three teams that played in a home-field Grey Cup — the 2011 Lions, 2012 Argonauts and 2013 Saskatchewan Roughriders — were all victorious.

Legal single-game sports betting arrived in Ontario on April 4 when the province launched its iGaming market. That allowed private gambling operators to offer single-game sports betting to anyone 19 and older.

The City of Hamilton has a support line (905-546-3606) for information for people struggling with alcohol, drugs, or gambling. There are also supports for problem gamblers that can be accessed at hnhbhealthline.ca, which also serves the neighbouring Brant, Haldimand and Niagara regions.