Rivalry has announced it has expanded its product offering to the casino segment – available online in markets under the company’s Isle of Man license, with the online casino Ontario market expected to follow in the coming months.
Users can now play and bet on Aviator, an online game in the “crash” category.
“Our strategy is to continuously expand our product offering and provide our customers with fresh content that is consistent with our brand,” Rivalry co-founder and CEO Steven Salz said in a news release. “With a strong foundation in esports betting and a growing traditional sports business, offering casino in an authentically Rivalry way is the next step for us. Aviator is a great selection as our first-ever third-party casino game, as it is simple, fun, easy to learn, and has a live chat element that aligns with our focus on community.”
Aviator works this way: It’s a plane that takes off and flies higher and higher, with the bet multiplier constantly increasing until the moment the plane flies away, a news release said. Players who cash out on time win their bet at that multiplier, while those who wait too long do not. So it’s a riskier game with the possibility of a high payout.
CGA President on Retail Sports Betting Update
Last week, we asked Canadian Gaming Association president and CEO Paul Burns if he had heard anything regarding the timing for the rollout of retail sports betting in the province. That question was met with some laughter.
The OLG’s delay (OLG conducts and manages the province’s land-based gaming facilities) in rolling out retail sports betting in Ontario has been a mystery to many in the industry. Online Ontario sports betting launched on April 4 in the province.
“I heard soon,” he said. “It’s unfortunate it’s taken this long, when you look at a sector that was severely impacted due to public health restrictions due to COVID-19, with months of closures or restricted capacities, that retail sports betting is a significant channel to help drive people back into buildings. It puzzles me because the casino operators endured a lot. Well, maybe retail sportsbooks could help change that. You have retail sports betting at your lottery kiosks, why don’t you have it in your casinos?
“I’ve said this before – I’ve been in a Vegas sportsbook during a Final Four or during the NBA playoff game and you can’t beat the excitement it creates. That’s what casinos are about — great experiences. So let them do it. We’re past the one-year mark (of federal legalization). They should be open."
NFL Betting on OLG
Speaking of OLG, 70% of all bets on Sunday for PROLINE were on the NFL. The league is an absolute betting beast. The most popular game of the week of any sport was the Thursday night game between the Buffalo Bills and Los Angeles Rams, won by the Bills 31-10.
A spokesperson from OLG said a number of factors were at play — it was the first game of the season, on a lone primetime slot, was a game between two of the league’s top teams, and a featured a semi-home team for Ontario fans, the Bills.
The most popular NFL bet of the week was the Rams' moneyline betting odds of +122. Players saw value in taking the defending champions at home as slight underdogs.
One patron turned 50 cents into $263.94 with a seven-team parlay on the NFL. He picked New Orleans, Baltimore, Cleveland, Miami, Chicago, Houston and Pittsburgh — six wins and one tie.
For tomorrow’s Thursday night game between the Los Angeles Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs, FanDuel reports that bettors are on the Chiefs in the handicap market with 78% of the bets and 76% of the stakes on Kansas City. Partly due to this and partly due to the Keenan Allen injury concern, the spread has been pushed to -4.5.
On the Ontario NHL betting front, FanDuel says one interesting market they have been seeing is for teams to have 100+ Regular Season Points. Top five staked teams are Edmonton (currently -150), Buffalo (+1120), Toronto (-290), New Jersey (+410) and Ottawa (+490).
