If you enjoy betting on sports, you’re probably already familiar with your provincial sports lottery.
But did you know that not all provincial sports lotteries were created equal? Just like our geography and culture, sports betting in Canada is different based on what part of the country you are in.
If you live on the west coast or Manitoba and you don’t mind betting on two or more games at a time, you actually might not be so bothered by using PlayNow.com.
But if you live in Ontario, Alberta or Saskatchewan, you’re getting the short stick playing Proline or Sport Select.
Our ranking of every provincial sports lottery in Canada
| Rank | Lottery | Bonuses/Promotions | Website | Betting Selection | Odds | Tie Rules | Parlay requirement | Online betting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | PlayNow (British Columbia, Manitoba) | B+ | A+ | A+ | A | B | B | A+ |
| 2. | Proline Stadium (Atlantic Canada) | C | A- | B | B | B | B | A |
| 3. | Mise-O-Jeu (Quebec) | F | B+ | B | C | B | B | B |
| 4. | Sport Select (Western Canada) | C | F | D | D- | D | D | Incomplete |
| 5. | Proline (Ontario) | F | C | F | F | D | D | Incomplete |
To read why we ranked each lottery the way we did, or to learn more about your provincial sports lottery and how it compares to lotteries in other provinces, be sure to check out our in-depth reviews of each:
- PlayNow sports lottery review
- Proline Stadium sports lottery review
- Mise-O-Jeu sports lottery review
- Sport Select sports lottery review
- Proline sports lottery review
Why don’t provincial sports lotteries offer single game betting?
A 1985 amendment to the Canadian Criminal Code made it possible for provinces to offer sports betting, but only in a lottery format. As a result, the provincial sports lotteries require you to parlay (combine multiple games) your picks, rather than let you bet on one game at a time.
Me after losing another Proline ticket pic.twitter.com/7TkElwhOuR
— Matt Ball (@MattBall16) March 8, 2014
People have grown increasingly tired of that parlay requirement. And politicians, particularly those who represent Canadian border cities that would benefit most from single-game sports betting, have noticed.
Two separate bills have been brought forward that would allow for government-regulated single-event sports betting in Canada (first Bill C-290, then Bill C-221). However, Bill C-290 died in the Canadian Senate in the summer of 2015, and Bill C-221 was squashed in the House of Commons in September 2016.
That means it looks like we Canadian sports bettors are limited to our provincial sports lotteries and their parlay requirements, unique tie rules, limited betting options and generally lower-paying odds.
Online sportsbooks do offer single game betting
Many Canadians have started turning to online sportsbooks that offer the ability to bet on one game at a time.
Online sportsbooks also offer signup bonuses, live betting and a much wider selection of sports and betting lines than almost all of the provincial sports lotteries can offer.
Best of all, online sportsbooks are completely legal for us Canadians to use.
The Canadian Criminal Code prevents anyone in Canada from accepting sports bets (unless they meet certain conditions), which explains why we don’t have Las Vegas-style sportsbooks in our casinos. However, the Internet allows us to place our bets with online sportsbooks based outside of Canada, which was and remains perfectly legal.