Another day, another partnership deal between a licensed Ontario sportsbook and a sports league or sports organization.
On Thursday, the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. and Major League Baseball announced a multi-year partnership that makes OLG’s PROLINE sportsbook an official sports betting partner of the MLB. It’s MLB’s first Ontario sports betting partnership.
This is not to be confused with the partnership the Blue Jays have with theScore Bet.
The OLG/MLB deal provides OLG with distribution rights to the league’s official logos and cross promotion across MLB digital and social channels, according to a news release.
The Blue Jays, in second place in the AL East, have solid odds on Ontario betting apps to win the World Series.
Said OLG’s chief digital and strategy officer Dave Pridmore: “Teaming up with a world-class organization like the MLB enables OLG to create exciting, one-of-a-kind interactive experiences for baseball fans at the game and on PROLINE. The true value of this partnership for OLG is the way it will bring PROLINE customers even closer to the game they love in ways they've never experienced before.”
More Details of the Deal
Other details of the deal include a variety of baseball content across digital platforms through PROLINE and free-to-play digital games being introduced throughout the entire baseball season.
“As we continue exploring additional avenues to engage our fans around the world through sports betting, we need to find creative, knowledgeable partners in their respective regions,” said Kenny Gersh, MLB executive vice president for business development, in the release. “With OLG, we have a trusted partner in Ontario with a vision to help us grow.”
Study: 33% of Ontarians Registered to Bet
So Ontario has just passed the two-month mark for legal sports betting, going live on April 4, and it seems Ontarians and Canadians alike are making more online bets than ever, according to an Ipsos survey.
One-third (33%) of Ontario adults surveyed said they were registered with at least one online gambling website, putting them just above the Canadian national average of 30%. The Atlantic Region has the highest proportion of Canadian adults registered to play at 41%. Then there’s B.C. and Ontario at 33%, followed by Quebec at 26%, Alberta at 24% and Manitoba/Saskatchewan at 22%.
The average Canadian who gambles online is registered with three or four websites (3.6 is the national average). Atlantic Canada leads the country on number of websites used, at an average of 4.7. Manitoba/Saskatchewan are the lowest at 2.7.
Interesting for those provinces entering taking the Ontario route and opening the market up: Canadian online gamblers tend to favor private operator sites rather than provincial government sites (56% to 44%).
