Due to the competitive nature of Ontario sports betting — which is about to get a whole lot more competitive — Ontario Lottery & Gaming Corp.’s PROLINE could only share so many betting stats from Sunday’s Super Bowl.
A spokesperson said they wouldn’t provide detailed financial information on handles.
PROLINE is the only place in the province where you can lay down a legal sports bet. The game itself, with the L.A. Rams edging out the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20, was a doozy — a back-and-forth scramble, with plenty of offense and a titanic bounce-back performance by that Rams’ defensive line in the second half.
OLG reports it saw a “significant number” of new customers sign up on PROLINE+ because of the Super Bowl offerings. Wagering also “increased significantly” (the overall number of bets and the amount placed per bet) compared to previous playoff games and the regular season.
As Dave Pridmore, chief digital and strategy officer for OLG, said leading up to the game, OLG had big plans in store, including a big array of player prop bets on its digital and retail platforms. It was a big advantage for OLG that the originally anticipated rollout for a fully competitive, regulated sports betting market in Ontario got pushed back after the big game.Competitive Market on the Way
April 4 is the official date for the industry rollout. The NFL is sports betting’s behemoth. Everyone else swims behind.
PROLINE was also announced last week as the first official NFL sportsbook in Canada.
The new live in-play markets on PROLINE+ were quite popular, representing about 10% of total sales on Super Bowl Sunday, as this helped enhance the customer experience during what was already an exciting game. Moneyline, Point Spread, Over/Under were the most popular, followed by the Touchdown markets (which team/player will score the 2nd/3rd/4th etc. touchdown).
While no one had a day like Drake had – a payout of just over $540,000 overall, including a bet on Odell Beckham Jr. catching a touchdown (which he did before injuring an ACL) – still it was an interesting day on the Ontario betting app front.
Ontario Betting Facts & Figures
Some other interesting facts on the big game provided by OLG:
- 54% of their customers correctly predicted the Rams to win the game.
- 52% of their customers correctly wagered on the Bengals (+4.5) point spread.
- Only 40% of bettors correctly wagered on the Under 48.5 points.
- 20% of customers correctly predicted Odell Beckham Jr to score the first touchdown.
- 12% of customers correctly predicted Cooper Kupp as MVP.
- The “Coin Toss” was a VERY popular market with players (Top-5 in total sales), with 51% of customers correctly predicting the “Heads” outcome.
- “Gatorade Color” was another popular market. However, just 18% of customers correctly wagered on “Blue” (“Clear/Water” and “None” were the most popular outcomes).
