The British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC) is beefing up its retail sportsbook offerings by opening two new PROLINE sportsbook lounges in the coming weeks.

B.C.’s first in-person sportsbooks lounges will open at Chances Casino Kelowna and Parq Casino in Vancouver on Monday, Feb. 10. The Chances Kelowna PROLINE Sportsbook Lounge will offer a sneak peek the day before, on Super Bowl Sunday. The lounge will feature a massive 25-foot screen as well as food and drink and PROLINE betting.

The Parq Casino lounge will host a grand opening event in March, after its first few weeks of operation.

A spokesperson from the crown corporation told Canadian Gaming Business that “the lounges offer something for sports lovers and sports bettors alike, including a best-in-class sports viewing experience and sports-betting terminals offering a full suite of competitive and live odds.”

“The sportsbook lounge is not just for sports betting, it is a go-to viewing destination for both regular gamedays and, for the biggest sporting events of the year, where B.C. sports fans and sports bettors can watch their favourite teams together, the home of the home team.”

BCLC has plans to introduce future sportsbook lounges at other casinos around the province.

Lounges will showcase BCLC’s modernized sportsbook

The two sportsbook lounges will be major showcases for BCLC’s expanded and revamped PROLINE, which it unveiled last fall on the eve of the NFL season. PROLINE replaced the Sports Action sportsbook that BCLC shut down last May after 33 years.

In an interview with CGB in September, BCLC’s Manager of Retail Sports Brett Hanson detailed PROLINE’s new and expanded features, which include a move to fully digital bet slips, an exponential increase in bet types and range and a variety of betting markets on local teams.

Hanson told CGB at the time of that chat that BCLC would become the first Canadian lottery to offer in-play retail betting with dynamic odds, facilitated by a mover to integrate PROLINE into the crown corporation’s self-service terminals (SSTs) in all of its hospitality network locations. BCLC confirmed to CGB on Monday that PROLINE at retail has been offering live odds for a few months.