The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, also known simply as the OLG, is the provincial government run corporation that oversees the lottery gambling in Ontario. This gambling includes casinos, slots, lotteries and the legacy Ontario sports betting lotteries known as Proline throughout the province.
Seeing as this is a sports betting website we will be focusing on the sports betting options that the OLG offers Ontario residents, the most popular of which is Proline.
Online Betting Site Alternatives to OLG
iGaming Ontario was formed in June of 2021 to provide a regulatory framework that would allow private sportsbook operators to become licensed and operate their companies in the Ontario market. The first licensed sportsbooks launched in Ontario in April of 2022, and these private sportsbooks have provided a wide variety of legal, licensed and regulated sportsbook options where Ontario residents can place bets as an alternative to the legacy OLG betting lotteries, such as Proline.
All three of the above recommended sportsbooks for Ontario residents are licensed to operate in the regulated Ontario sports betting market by iGaming Ontario.
OLG Sports Betting – Proline
Proline is the brand for all of the sports betting run through the Ontario government. It includes the basic Proline betting option which involves picking winners in sports games, as well as Pools.
In 2021-22 the OLG generated $293 million in revenue from the OLG’s sports betting options and only paid out $198 million in prizes. That’s a 32.42% profit margin for the OLG on their sports offerings! A successful online sportsbook generally has a 4.5% profit margin. This information was taken from the OLG’s 2021-22 Annual Report. A screenshot of which is shown below.
The OLG’s sports betting options have horrible odds and result in huge earnings for the government. I personally consider Proline an ignorance tax for Ontario residents who don’t know how much better the odds are online, or a lazy tax for the people who know, but continue to bet through Proline anyways.
Proline
Proline is a sports betting game where you fill out a ticket with your picks and place bets in-store at an OLG retailer. Gas stations, grocery stores and convenience stores are usually a good bet for finding an OLG lottery booth.
Proline has added single bets as an option, which is an improvement over the previous iteration that required 3 to 6 selection parlay bets. That said, the odds are still significantly worse than what you will find at any of the regulated betting sites I’ve listed above.
I have to stress just how poor Proline is in Ontario. The odds are horrible, with payouts of close to double being the norm online. The OLG’s Proline option is ancient and I strongly advise Ontario residents to place your sports bets online for a much more pleasurable experience.
Pools
With Pool there is a list of games on a card for a given night. To play Pools you go through the card and select which team will win each game. Everyone who fills out that card for that day is entered into a pool and whichever player gets the most selections correct wins the pot. For this reason you never know how much you will win if you get the most correct answers because if more people enter, more money is available to be won.
The OLG states that 60% of the total wagers made for a Pools card are added to the prize pool. So for every $5 Pools card, $3 goes to the prize pool and $2 is profit for the OLG. This hold percentage (40%) is extremely high when compared to a normal online betting site.
The OLG is the worst of the various sports betting programs run by the different provincial governments. The odds are predatory and the bet offerings are lacking. Ontario residents, more than any other province in Canada, should definitely make the transition to betting through one of my recommended online sportsbooks. With Ontario legalizing and regulating online sports betting there’s absolutely no reason to still be betting with Proline.
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