Provincial lottery corporations’ sportsbook offerings had a very successful Super Bowl LVI, the first NFL showpiece game with single-event betting on offer in Canada, as betting records were broken across the country.

The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG), the Atlantic Lottery Corporation (ALC), and the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC) all took record handles from the event on February 13, thanks in no small part to being able to take single-game wagers from sports bettors in their respective jurisdictions.

According to early data cited by Sports Handle, Super Bowl LVI saw an average Canadian audience of 8.1 million viewers, with roughly 45 per cent of the population tuning in at some point throughout the evening.

Provincial lottery corporations also put up their own impressive numbers.

Unsurprisingly, given its population, Ontario’s bettors made up the overwhelming majority of Canadians wagering on the Super Bowl.

OLG’s PROLINE +, the first official sportsbook partner of the NFL in Canada, had more than 80 betting options for the Super Bowl and offered a pair of promotions, including matching first deposits up to $500 for new users and a $100 sports bonus on wagers placed specifically on the Super Bowl.

While OLG did not report specific financial details, it said it saw a “significant number” of new customers sign up on PROLINE + due to the promotions. Live in-play markets accounted for roughly 10 per cent of total sales.

OLG said that, among other conclusions, the coin toss was a “very” popular market with PROLINE players (top-five in total sales), and “Gatorade colour” was another popular market.

Meanwhile, in the Maritimes, ALC’s PRO•LINE continued its annual trend of setting new single-day revenue on Super Bowl day, comfortably setting new high-water marks for handle, profit, online revenue, and active bettors. PRO•LINE is available to bettors in Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island.

Singles bets were on offer in all of those provinces after Nova Scotia became the final Canadian province to go live with single-event betting just days before the Super Bowl. Singles made up almost 40 per cent of Nova Scotia’s Super Bowl bets, according to ALC Sports Betting Manager Scott Eagles, per Sports Handle. Overall, half of PRO•LINE’s online handle for the Super Bowl, and over a quarter at retail, came from singles.

ALC offered over 50 props for the game, and the sportsbook turned some nice profits on its heaviest-bet props. For ALC, too, the “coin toss” bet was hugely popular.

On the other coast, in British Columbia, more than 70,000 bets were placed on BCLC’s PlayNow platform, totalling approximately $2.1 million. That was more than double the amount wagered on last year’s Super Bowl.

Image: NFL Canada