Are you dreaming of a white Christmas this year in Canada?
What if you could potentially make a few extra bucks by wagering on the prospects of it snowing on Christmas Day? A few extra dollars goes a long way this time of the year, right?
Over at the bet365 sportsbook, bettors can wager on whether or not the white stuff will fall from the sky in three major Canadian cities — Vancouver, Montreal, and Toronto — at their respective international airports on Dec. 25. If wagering on the weather tickles your fancy, you can also bet on a few major U.S. cities seeing snow as well.
| City | Odds of snow on Dec. 25 |
|---|---|
| Vancouver | Yes (+800), No (-2000) |
| Montreal | Yes (-125), No (-110) |
| Toronto | Yes (+162), No (-225) |
All odds courtesy of 
Naturally, if you’re interested in betting into these markets, checking the respective long-range weather forecasts is the first step in the handicapping process. As of Tuesday morning, The Weather Network is forecasting that snow is highly unlikely for all three of the major Canadian cities. Vancouver’s forecast is calling for temperatures around 8 C and rain. In Montreal, forecasts are projecting daytime temperatures around 5 C and sunny skies. In Toronto, temperatures will be sitting around 6 C with a slight chance of rain.
Weather forecasts can change quickly, though, and Christmas Day is still several days away. But at first glance, there appears to be value in betting on “No” snow for Montreal at -110. Temperatures above 0 C, the freezing mark, usually indicate that snow is unlikely, but not impossible.
Will it snow on Dec. 25 in Montreal? No.
-110
A bet365 customer service representative provided Canada Sports Betting with the following explanation of what the sportsbook considers a snowfall for payout purposes:
Snow, sleet, snow grains or snow pellets must be officially recorded/observed to have fallen at the named location, at any time during the twenty-four hours of the specified date. Snow already lying on the ground, hail or ice pellets will not count. Results will be officially confirmed by independent adjudicators, British Weather Services (BWS).
There’s also some great historical Christmas Day snowfall data available on the Government of Canada’s website. Environment and Climate Change Canada has analyzed 67 years (1955-2021) of weather records for 45 major city centres across Canada, and calculated the probability of having a white snow-covered Christmas Day.
| City | Snow on Christmas Day (1955-2007) | % chance of white Christmas (1955-2021) |
| Vancouver | 4% | 9% |
| Montreal | 25% | 75% |
| Toronto | 9% | 51% |
As you can see, historically snow on Christmas Day is quite rare for these three major Canadian cities. And with the growing impact of global warming, snow on Dec. 25 will be even more unlikely in the years to come.
If novelty betting isn’t your thing, perhaps wagering on the NFL or NBA is more appetizing. There are five marquee games on the NBA Christmas Day slate, including the Boston Celtics taking on the Los Angeles Lakers. And the NFL has three games scheduled for your viewing and betting pleasure on Dec. 25, including the Baltimore Ravens visiting the San Francisco 49ers in the nightcap.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from all of us at Canada Sports Betting!
