It's a Holiday Feast for Online Sports Bettors

The 2025 holiday season is upon us. For tens of millions of Americans, that means turkey dinners, Christmas gifts, and watching the ball drop in Times Square on New Year's Eve. For American online sportsbettors, the holiday season represents a slice of sports-betting heaven.

With the MLB baseball season officially in the books, congratulations to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Sports bettors can now focus on other betting markets. There will be no shortage of available options during the holiday season, which spans from November through January. Here is an amazing list of available betting markets:

• NCAA College football


• NFL Football


• NBA Basketball


• NCAA College Basketball (men's and women's)


• NHL - professional hockey


• EPL - English premiere league socces

Did we neglect to mention international basketball and soccer leagues underway all over the globe?

If you are an avid sports bettor and struggle to find action that suits you, you are not trying. There is something on the online betting boards for everyone, from recreational sports bettors to sports gambling pros. Here's a preview of what's available to online sports bettors during the holidays.

NCAA College Football

December marks the heart of the NCAA football bowl season. This is the time of the year when the best teams are sorting themselves out for a place in conference championships, bowl game invitations, and or the NCAA FB playoffs. Attention online sports bettors: The action will be fast and furious.

Here is a look at the bowl game and playoff schedule for 2025:

Saturday, Dec. 13

Cricket Celebration Bowl
LA Bowl

Tuesday, Dec. 16

IS4S Salute to Veterans Bowl

Wednesday, Dec. 17

StaffDNA Cure Bowl
68 Ventures Bowl

Friday, Dec. 19

Myrtle Beach Bowl
Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl

Monday, Dec. 22

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl

Tuesday, Dec. 23

Boca Raton Bowl
New Orleans Bowl
Scooter's Coffee Frisco Bowl

Wednesday, Dec. 24

Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl

Friday, Dec. 26

GameAbove Sports Bowl
Rate Bowl
SERVPRO First Responder Bowl

Saturday, Dec. 27

Go Bowling Military Bowl
Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl
Wasabi Fenway Bowl
Pop-Tarts Bowl
Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl
Isleta New Mexico Bowl
TaxSlayer Gator Bowl
Kinder's Texas Bowl

Monday, Dec. 29

JLAB Birmingham Bowl

Tuesday, Dec. 30

Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl
Music City Bowl
Valero Alamo Bowl

Wednesday, Dec. 31

ReliaQuest Bowl

Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl
Cheez-It Citrus Bowl
SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl

Friday, Jan. 2

Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl

AutoZone Liberty Bowl
Duke's Mayo Bowl
DIRECTV Holiday Bowl

College Football Playoff With Locations

First-round games (at campus sites)
Friday, Dec. 19
Saturday, Dec. 20

CFP quarterfinals

Wednesday, Dec. 31

CFP Quarterfinal at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic
AT&T Stadium (Arlington, Texas)

Thursday, Jan. 1

CFP Quarterfinal at the Capital One Orange Bowl
Hard Rock Stadium (Miami Gardens, Florida)
CFP Quarterfinal at the Rose Bowl Game Presented by Prudential
Rose Bowl (Pasadena, California)
CFP Quarterfinal at the Allstate Sugar Bowl
Caesars Superdome (New Orleans)

CFP semifinals, national championship game

Thursday, Jan. 8

CFP Semifinal at the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl
State Farm Stadium (Glendale, Arizona)

Friday, Jan. 9

CFP Semifinal at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl
Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta)

Monday, Jan. 19

CFP National Championship
Hard Rock Stadium (Miami Gardens, Florida)

NFL Football

While the college football season is getting sorted out, the National Football League (NFL) will be moving towards the playoffs, which start at the beginning of the year. Ten weeks into the season, the playoff picture is starting to become clearer. With that said, there is still a lot of football to be played until the contenders finish separating themselves from the pretenders. Anything could happen.

Here's a look at the NFL playoff schedule for 2026:

Wild-card games: January 10-12
Divisional games: January 17-18
Conference championships: January 25
Super Bowl LX: Sunday, February 08

NBA Basketball

The 2025-26 NBA season officially got underway in mid-October. The season started with one important question: "Will the Oklahoma City Thunder be able to repeat as champions, or will another team be able to step up and give them the boot?"

From a sports betting perspective, NBA games will be available every day during the holidays. Online Bettors will also be getting betting access to the Emirates NBA Cup playoff games that will be sprinkled throughout the schedule, during the holiday season.

NCAA College Basketball - Men's & Women's

The beginning of November marked the beginning of the NCAA BB season for both the men and women. Will the Florida Gators be able to repeat for the men, and with the Connecticut Huskies go back-to-back for the women?

During November, sports bettors will be able to bet on a series of NCAA BB invitational tournaments, being played in places like Las Vegas and the exotic Hawaiian Island of Maui. When the invitational season comes to a close, the real regular season will begin in earnest with an impressive list of high-quality non-conference matchups between top-ranked teams. Note: Don't miss out on NCAA Women's BB wagering. There are some pretty good players and teams representing the fairer sex.

College basketball wagering should be available every day throughout the holiday season.

NHL - Professional Hockey

Professional hockey rarely gets it due during the holiday season, with so much attention falling to college and professional football. Just the same, the NHL season is underway, having started at the same time as the NBA season.

In 2025, it was the Florida Panthers who were able to repeat as Stanley Cup Champions. Is a three-peat possible? Future odds lines favor the Panthers to do just that.

Much like the NBA and NCAA basketball, NHL games will be available to online sports bettors every day throughout the holidays.

Don't Miss the Betting Action

Clearly, the holiday season is prime time for recreational and professional sports bettors. Nothing wrong with betting on a football game before sitting down for Thanksgiving Dinner. Games featuring the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys are as traditional as turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce.

On Christmas morning, you can enjoy watching the kids open gifts while the lady of the house prepares Christmas dinner. Sports bettors can then enjoy having betting access to featured NBA games and great college football bowl game matchups. Oh, the NFL will also be in action with its triple-header, featuring the following games:

• Dallas Cowboys at the Washington Commanders


• Minnesota Vikings at the Detroit Lions


• Denver Broncos at the Kansas City Chiefs
  

As a final reminder, there will be plenty of quality college football bowl action on New Year's Eve before the festivities start. Don't drink too much, or you might miss out on the equally good bowl action that starts late morning on New Year's Day.

Indeed, this is a great time of the year to be an avid sports bettor. It's time to fund your online betting accounts so you won't miss out on a day of exciting betting action. GOOD LUCK!!!