Province's lottery and gambling arm are hoping to secure up to $375 million in additional profits in the next five years

By Edmund Anderson

March 6, 2015

BURLINGTON, ON

For many sports and gambling enthusiasts, new games and new ways to win big are now being offered . In Ontario, betting and gambling are overseen by OLG and PlayOLG is the brand new official site where residents of this province can do all their online gambling including sports betting. It is secure and legal and perfect for those that want to gamble from the comfort of their own home.

OLG offers a number of online gambling options and they are set to add more in the future including peer-to-peer poker, bingo, sports betting and more. This brand new site opened its doors in early January 2015 and it provides the government with another opportunity to expand their revenue from gambling.

By launching this brand new online gambling website, the OLG is hoping to tap into the estimated $400 million that Ontario gamblers are spending annually on international sites. They are hoping to secure up to $375 million in additional profits in the next five years. Ontario now joins British Columbia, Manitoba, Quebec and all of the Atlantic Provinces in offering online gambling and casino style games to their residents. Players at PlayOLG will be able to set their own wagering limits up to $9,999 per week. They must be at least 18 years of age and must be an Ontario resident and play within the province.

Sports Betting in Ontario
The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation is operated by the provincial government of Ontario and they offer the only legal Canadian based online sports gambling for residents of Ontario. Ontario is home to no less than four major league sports teams and Toronto is rumored to eventually be the host for Canada’s first ever NFL football team. The major sports teams are the Maple Leafs in the NHL, the Blue Jays in the MLB, The Raptors in the NBA, and the Toronto FC in the MLS. With this in mind, it is easy to see why sports betting is very popular in Ontario. The OLG has recently made Pro-Line betting services available online which is great news for sports betting fans who like to place their wagers online.

OLG’s Pro-Line online sports betting website is available to all Ontario residents over the age of 18 and here you will find all the days listed events, links to the sports offered and the lines for these events. The Pro-Line betting grid lists available betting options and you will need to make your selections and then print out your betting slip. The betting options available are very limited especially when you compare these to international online sports betting websites. The Pro-Line bets are comprised of picking 3-6 outcomes and that is it. They also offer Point Spread and Pro Picks but it still doesn’t compare to the international sites.

Canada’s Legal Sports betting Bill – C290
With current Canadian gambling laws, parlays are the only way that Canadian residents can place a wager. If you are a serious gambling this means you will be limited and it is why many sports betting fans choose to use international sites.

Here they can place whatever bets they want. The parlay rule has been subject to a lot of debate over recent years and many Canadians are hoping that the C290 bill will get passed. It has been tied up in the senate for a long time now and once passed this will remove the parlay wager rule and allow Canadians to bet on single game results and so much more. For sporting fans this will be a very welcome change as it will allow them to bet on single results such as the NFL final, football, and so much more.

So far we still don’t know when this bill will be passed or even if it will be passed and because of this, Canadians are doing their sports betting elsewhere and opting to use international websites that allow bets from Canadian gamblers. The downside to this, is that the government is losing out on massive revenues each year and this is the argument for the passing of the C290 bill as once passed, these revenues can be kept in Canada and pumped back into Ontario’s economy.

Legal betting and online gambling in Ontario is done through OLG and their provincially run website PlayOLG is for residents of this province only. There are advantages to this in that you know that everything you do is legal and the site is safe. The disadvantages of course are that you are only playing against residents of Ontario and the jackpots up for grabs aren’t as big as those offered by huge international websites. If you are planning on placing wagers on sporting events this year, including the NFL’s Superbowl final or this year’s Stanley Cup final, then like many others, you will be hoping the C290 bill issue is resolved sooner rather than later.

You can read about the NFL final predictions and what sites are offering the best odds so that you know where to place your wagers for the best return. There is also valuable information for those who will be placing parlay bets too.