Pro Line for Ontario Bettors

[Hartley]

Can someone explain their idiotic policy? NFL 3 team pays 5/1, NCAA Football 3 team pays 4/1.

Oh well. I still was able to get the following and based on my calculations is better than offshore.


Arizona +16.5, LSU -15.5, Iowa +9.5

Currently I'm seeing 13.5 for Arizona, 18 for LSU and 6.5 for Iowa.

Plugging those lines into a parlay using Greek's line movements works out to 2.8 to 1 so 4/1 is still almost 40% higher than offshore. If you want to throw in a 4th for 9/1 odds you can consider adding Indiana +3.5

[Don Eagleston]

Why doesn't Canada, the land of the free and easy, go to straight betting? Plenty of gamblers in Toronto and a few elsewhere.

[Pancho Sanza]

They both pay 4-1 net, ticket will say 5-1 but the return includes your stake.

POINT SPREAD

[Hartley]

Must have changed that. I remember for a while there it was 6 for 1 on NFL.

Don to answer your question there's a federal law which makes it illegal to offer straight wagers on sports in Canada which is why they had to go to this parlay system. I emailed the Ministry of Justice about it and asked if they would consider moving more to a UK type system with regards to sports and online wagering and I got a response from someone there who said
"gambling is a provincial issue, it doesn't concern us."

That isn't surprising. When the provinces ask for federal laws with relation to gambling to be changed, the feds usually just green light it. The last time this happened was in 1999 when various provinces asked for craps and dice games to be allowed in casinos which was illegal under federal laws. The senate which makes the final decision on these things allowed it unanimously.

We are having a provincial election in Ontario now and I emailed both of the leading candidates to ask about changing the law in Ontario in both these regards and thus far haven't heard back although one aide for a candidate said he'll get back to me if he has time. When the election is over I will be all oover the winner about it until I get an answer. Usually Ontario takes the initiative and then other provinces follow suit - and right now every province in Canada has some sort of sports lottery.

[Don Eagleston]

Yes, I played the lottery in BC. Foots must win by 3 and hoops by 5. You could beat them on bad lines, but I think they are issuing spreads closer to game date now.

[Hartley]

With the exception of Atlantic Canada, all sports lotteries have a point spread system now as well.