- Ontario Lottery and Gaming (OLG) has announced that their PROLINE+ sportsbook product is now an ‘official sports betting partner’ of Major League Baseball (MLB).
- This is the MLB’s first sports betting partnership in the booming Ontario market.
- Previously, the OLG has announced deals with the National Hockey League (NHL) and National Football League (NFL).
One of the great things about the Ontario sports betting ecosystem is the way they’ve handled the provincial lottery’s entry into the segment. Instead of doing what so many other boneheaded jurisdictions have done and gift the lottery with a monopoly over sports betting, Ontario’s lottery has to compete with every other mobile betting provider. Unfortunately, the OLG still has a monopoly over retail sports betting in the province but hopefully that will also change at some point.
The result has not only been for the OLG to offer a decent sports betting platform (PROLINE+), but to also employ many of the same marketing and promotional tactics as other sportsbooks. One of the most common is the ‘official betting partnership’ with a sports league, team or other oversight body. Previously, the OLG has announced such deals with the National Football League (NFL) and the National Hockey League (NHL). Both of these partnerships were the respective league’s first promotional deal in the Ontario market. Not sure if that’s a part of the OLG’s strategy or just a function of the ‘first mover advantage’ they were afforded when single game sports betting became legal in Canada.
The OLG has now added another of the big North American sports leagues to their partnership portfolio. This time, it’s Major League Baseball (MLB) that has named the Proline+ sports betting platform as an ‘official sports betting partner’. Like the previous two professional league promotional deals, the partnership with OLG is the MLB’s first sports betting partnership in Ontario. The partnership includes the Proline+ online betting platform as well as the PROLINE retail presence at nearly 10,000 lottery outlets across Ontario.
Here’s some of the components of the partnership deal:
- Unique variety of engaging baseball content across digital platforms through PROLINE+.
- OLG distribution rights to the League’s official logos and cross-promotion across MLB digital and social channels.
- Free-to-play digital games being introduced throughout the entire baseball season.
Dave Pridmore, OLG’s Chief Digital and Strategy Officer, says that the partnership will bring Ontarians closer to the game of baseball than ever before:
“Teaming up with a world-class organization like the MLB enables OLG to create exciting, one-of-a-kind interactive experiences for baseball fans at the game and on PROLINE+. The true value of this partnership for OLG is the way it will bring PROLINE customers even closer to the game they love in ways they’ve never experienced before.”
Kenny Gersh, MLB Executive Vice President, Business Development, spoke of the OLG’s quality as a partner in the sports betting industry:
“As we continue exploring additional avenues to engage our fans around the world through sports betting, we need to find creative, knowledgeable partners in their respective regions. With OLG, we have a trusted partner in Ontario with a vision to help us grow.”
Interesting that the only remaining league that the OLG has yet to sign up is the National Basketball Association (NBA) despite the fact that the league has a team in the province (the Toronto Raptors). My guess is that this oversight will be rectified by the time next season rolls around.
