Sheer sporting opera, utter madness. That’s the only way to describe the Buffalo Bills-Kansas City Chiefs Divisional Round playoff game Sunday night.
According to Ontario Lottery and Gaming, the Bills-Chiefs game was “by far” the largest single Ontario sports betting event wagered on since PROLINE+ was launched in August – a 48% increase in total wagers compared to the previous record (the previous week when the Bills hammered the Patriots 47-17 in the Wild Card round).
The launch dates for Ontario sports betting apps are still up in the air. PROLINE+ remains the only option for legal sports betting in Ontario.
Words can’t do the Bills-Chiefs game any justice. Two quarterback titans, young guys with cannons for arms, who also put up more rushing yards than the running backs — harbingers of the NFL’s “New Age” for the QB position — went head-to-head, with blow-by-blow body shots.
There has never been an NFL playoff game like that one. We all watched in wonderment. In fact there has never been a NFL playoff weekend like that one — all four games down to last second FGs, then the Patrick Mahomes-to-Travis Kelce overtime TD that killed the Bills.
Leads went back and forth with abandon. There was no logic to any of it. The Bills went into the game with the best defense in the NFL.
Ontario Loves the Bills
No doubt at PROLINE+, live betting reflected the madness we all were watching on the field. We are sure bets went back forth like Josh Allen and Mahomes passes into a January night. As we have reported, from a sports betting perspective, the Bills are enormously popular in Ontario.
On Sunday we watched with incredulity as Allen took his Bills down the field with just over a minute to play and fired a missile up the middle to WR Gabriel Davis (his record fourth TD reception that game). Bills Mafia reveled. Chiefs fans sat in cold silence.
I am sure sitting in the stands at Arrowhead Stadium during that moment you could hear the snow falling. That play occurred seconds after Mahomes stuck a knife in the hearts of Bills fans, firing a midfield strike to his rapid fast diminutive WR Tyreek Hill who scooted 64 yards for a go-ahead TD. And before that Allen had fired another touchdown to Davis.
So Allen came back and did it again. Then head coach Sean McDermott for some reason didn’t call a squib kick, and Mahomes did his thing with 13 seconds left to put the Chiefs in field goal position to tie the game and send it to OT. Add “13 seconds” as another chapter heading in the annals of Bills’ playoff misery.
Pregame Prop Bets Offered
It was also the first time PROLINE+ offered pre-match NFL Player Props. In the past they had only offered in-game props. Notable player props included Mahomes throwing over 284.5 yards in passing (players won), Allen tossing over 280.5 yards (players won), Kelce hauling in over 69.5 yards in receptions (players won), the Bills’ Stefon Diggs totaling over 71.5 yards in receiving (players lost).
In the earlier Division Round game on Sunday between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Los Angeles Rams, popular player props included Bucs QB Tom Brady rushing over 1.5 yards (players lost) and Rams’ receiver Odell Beckham Jr. catching over 47.5 yards (players won).
Look for more interesting PROLINE+ player props coming up for the Conference Championships and the Super Bowl on Feb. 13 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
