Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. is ratcheting up sports-betting options and sign-up bonuses, an effort that comes as the government-owned company is expected to face a swarm of new rivals in just a few short months.
OLG announced Tuesday that customers can now make single-game wagers at around 10,000 lottery retailers in Ontario. Single-event betting was authorized by federal lawmakers last summer, but OLG had only been offering it online via its PROLINE+ sportsbook.
The new PROLINE product from OLG that's being offered by Ontario retailers has also been expanded to include additional sports and “dynamic” odds.
OLG has launched a "bet builder" app as well. The app will allow customers to craft their wagers before they get to a store, and then to present a barcode to the retailer once they get there to receive their ticket.
The upgraded retail offering from OLG comes as it has been bolstering its internet operation, too. There are now Winter Olympics betting markets and certain NFL player props being offered on PROLINE+. Retail props are still in the works.
What's more, entries for the company’s “POOLS” game, in which players wager $5 each to see who can most correctly predict the outcome of a slate of games, can now be constructed online. However, players will still have to go to a store to get their tickets.
“OLG is giving our customers a new and exciting sports gaming experience,” OLG President and CEO Duncan Hannay said in a press release. “For the first time, legal single event wagering will be available to sports bettors in Ontario who want to bet on the Super Bowl LVI and many other events.”
Bonus coverage
But there is likely another factor at play beyond the Big Game.
OLG is currently the only legal provider of sports betting in Canada’s most populous province. Come April, though, that is expected to change, as the Ontario government’s new market for internet-based sports betting and casino gambling is scheduled to launch on April 4.
The market will allow private-sector operators of online sportsbooks and gambling sites to legally take bets from Ontarians. And the new arrivals will be competing both with each other and OLG for business, which means there are likely to be at least a few registration bonuses and free bets offered to acquire customers.
Although OLG can’t get too crazy with promotions, because it has to answer to its shareholder, the Ontario government — which has to answer to voters — the company has recently been cranking up its promotions ahead of the Super Bowl and the iGaming market’s launch.
OLG is, for example, making its "richest offer yet" to would-be users, which is to match their first deposits up to $500. While some of that generosity may be intended to attract customers at Super Bowl time, it could also keep users around when the province is flooded with new operators.
“We'll continue to be as competitive as we can on a bonusing front, within what OLG’s comfortable with,” said Dave Pridmore, OLG’s chief digital and strategy officer, in an interview with Covers in December. “We balance a few different areas that we want to make sure that we're providing the right offers from a customer and from a return to the government perspective.”
OLG is making its "richest offer yet" to try to attract deposits to its online sportsbook. It comes ahead of both the Super Bowl and the launch of Ontario's new iGaming market, in which a number of rival bookmakers are expected to open up shop and compete with OLG. pic.twitter.com/cwOAKn40FT
— Geoff Zochodne (@GeoffZochodne) February 1, 2022
While there have been questions raised about the legality and economic effects of Ontario’s planned iGaming market, it’s coming, and it is expected to attract a wide variety of new operators to the province.
Barstool Sportsbook-owner Penn National Gaming Inc. acquired Toronto-based digital media and sports betting company theScore last October. The plan for Penn’s new subsidiary is to jump into the Ontario market as soon as possible.
“We will be ready to launch theScore Bet in Ontario on April 4 and could not be more excited to finally offer our best-in-class mobile sports betting and iGaming experience to customers in our home province,” said John Levy, CEO of theScore, in a January 28 press release.
With the competition coming, OLG is highlighting another aspect of its operations to inspire customer loyalty.
"The new PROLINE and PROLINE+ offer the only retail and online sports betting products that give back to Ontario with 100 percent of OLG proceeds reinvested into provincial priorities to improve the quality of life for all Ontarians," the company said Tuesday. "When you play on either platform, you play for Ontario."
