Victoria is the capital of British Columbia, but with a population of under 400,000 in the Greater Victoria area, the city is not able to support many professional sports teams. That said, Victoria did get Pacific FC, a Canadian Premier League team, in 2018, and the Victoria Royals of the WHL are a popular junior hockey team in the city..
Even without many nearby sports teams, the sports betting market in Victoria has grown over the past several years, just like every city in Canada. The stigma that was attached to sports betting 10+ years ago has faded away and it has now become very common for Victoria residents and other Canadians to place sports wagers online. Below I will recommend our top 3 rated betting sites for Victoria residents and look at the two government run betting options in the city.
Best Betting Sites for Victoria Residents
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1
See Website For Details- Licensed and regulated in Canada
- Easy deposits & withdrawals including Interac
- Competitive betting lines
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2
See Website For Details- Licensed in Ontario and Malta (accepts bettors from across Canada)
- Competitive betting lines
- Easy deposit/withdrawal options, including Interac
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3
#Ad- Most popular betting site worldwide
- State of the art live betting platform including streaming of several events
- Fixed odds for horse racing
Offline Sports Betting in Victoria
Offline sports betting is available in Victoria, but it’s a very outdated product called Sports Action, which is run by the BCLC in British Columbia. The Sports Action odds are the worst of any government run sports lottery in Canada.
The BCLC has put the Sports Action product on the back-burner to focus on their online offering (more on this below) and the odds have become even worse. They are basically now just catering to BC residents who do not want to place their bets online and truly don’t care about their risk vs reward.
Government Run Online Sports Betting
PlayNow.com is an online betting site that is run by the BCLC.
PlayNow is a decent option for sports bettors in Victoria and its a step in the right direction for licensed and regulated sports betting, having basically replaced Sports Action a few years ago. The site is comparable to the three Canada-wide betting sites I recommended above in terms of functionality and the odds are much better than the other government run betting products in Canada.
Check out my full review of PlayNow.com, which includes a comparison to our recommended betting sites.
As I mentioned above, PlayNow is a huge step in the right direction for government run sports betting in British Columbia, but it’s not quite as strong a product as the private betting sites at this time.
Land Based Casinos in Victoria
Elements Casino Victoria is located 15 minutes west of downtown Victoria and offers several slot machines and table games, including baccarat.
Unfortunately, Elements Casino does not accept sports wagers at this time.
Sports Teams in Victoria
Victoria isn’t home to any teams from the top North American leagues. Vancouver and Seattle are the closest big cities, but both are still 3 to 4 hour trips, so Victoria residents don’t have a great deal of access to top level sports in or around the city.
- Pacific FC (CPL)
- Victoria Royals (WHL)
