The books are beating the bettors of FIFA Women's World Cup
The disappointing-and-then-some performance of Canada in an early exit has been good business for Ontario operators. The CFL has a new AGO and official betting partner in NEO.bet.
In this issue:
Ontario books beating the bettors on Women’s World Cup
CFL brings NEO.bet on board as a partner
Schneider, Fields and Gouker to appear on GNCS podcast
Ontario sportsbooks a winner in Canada’s early exit from Women’s World Cup
Since launching this twice-weekly fountain of sports betting and gaming news and information 30 months ago, we’ve been informed repeatedly that non-sharp sports bettors bet with their hearts. So, there was no knocking-us-over-with-a-feather when we read Matthew Lomon’s reporting Tuesday on PlayCanada.com that the cratering of the Canadian side - culminating with an embarrassing 4-0 loss to the host Aussies on Monday morning - favoured the books over the bettors.
“Canada going out (early) is a good result (for sportsbooks),” Phill Gray, head of trading operations at Sports Interaction, told us via email yesterday. “They were a six-figure liability at their price on the outright, given parlays, etcetera.”
We’ll leave the analyzing of what went wrong with Bev Priestman’s crew to the experts, including The Homestand Sports panel:
Instead, we canvassed a few sportsbooks for some metrics around Women’s World Cup activity so far. From DraftKings’ Ontario business;
Most Bet Players
Christine Sinclair
Barbra Banda
Sam Kerr
Jennifer Hermoso
Alex Morgan
Most Bet Games
Nigeria [W] vs Canada [W]
USA [W] vs Netherlands [W]
USA [W] vs Vietnam [W]
Canada [W] vs Ireland [W]
China [W] vs England [W]
From BetMGM:
Canada was the second-biggest liability behind Team USA, which advanced by the grey stubble of our chinny chin chin into the Group of 16.
Among Ontario customers, a leading 43 per cent of bets and 46.6 per cent of the money was placed on Canada to mirror its Olympic gold medal effort last year in Tokyo
In all markets where BetMGM operates, 3.9 per cent of tickets and 2 per cent of the moolah was on the Canadians to win the tournament.
From Sports Interaction:
Live betting accounts for about 40 per cent of overall handle as of Tuesday.
The Entain-owned sportsbook is holding “north of 20 per cent” on both pre-match and in-play at this time.
Also, from the OLG communications team, which pointed to the start time of Canada’s games here at home (10:30 p.m. ET, 8 a.m. and 6 a.m.) as having a “massive impact” on betting activity:
In its tournament-ending defeat to Australia, Canada attracted 52 per cent of wagers with only 19 per cent on the hosts.
55 per cent of the money was put down on the over (2.5 goals).
Two ProLine+ bettors nailed the 4-0 score at +7600
The Americans have attracted the most wagers (58 per cent) to win their fifth FIFA World Cup title. Canada was second at 16 per cent entering the tournament followed by England at 6 per cent.
The top 10 games bet on ProLine+ so far:
Nigeria v Canada
USA v Netherlands
Canada v Ireland
Argentina v South Africa
Panama v Jamaica
Canada v Australia
USA v Vietnam
China v Haiti
South Korea v Morocco
Colombia v South Korea
In his article, Lomon reported both FanDuel and theScore had at least 50 per cent of bettors digging into their digital wallets for a tournament victory by the Canucks.
While this Women’s World Cup is attracting record crowds in Australia and New Zealand, and drawing unprecedented television ratings, that success isn’t being seen by sportsbooks according to Sports Interaction’s Gray.
“Women’s sports are still a tough sell in the betting community, and the handle is lower than what I would have thought given the tournament is taking place in the slowest part of the sports season,” he said. “Recreational bettors who want to bet because it’s Canada hasn’t really grown much. Pro bettors looking for value are nowhere nearly as predominant as anything in a men’s sport.
“We’ll take about 10 per cent of what we’d take on the men’s World Cup.”
Before the start of the Women’s World Cup, the co-founder of the All-in Diversity Project suggested in an interview with Gaming Business that sportsbook operators could do more to boost business around their tournament offering.
“This is a spectacular own goal for the industry – a missed opportunity for those looking to fill the void of the quieter summer months, reflect the changing habits of existing sports bettors and, most importantly, engage with a new generation of customers,” said Christina Thakor-Rankin.
NEO.bet jumps on partnership with CFL
When Asit Ganguli and the folks at NEO.bet learned in late May that the Canadian Football League was seeking partners from the sports betting industry, they grabbed the opportunity faster than a Hamilton Tiger-Cats fan can yell Oskee Wee Wee three times.
“We did this deal on short notice,” Ganguli, NEO.bet’s Canadian country manager, told Gaming News Canada about Tuesday’s announcement that the operator is now an authorized gaming partner and official sportsbook partner of the CFL. “We decided to jump on it . . . . because it’s a brand and product we’d like to be part of.
“The CFL is quintessentially Canadian.”
NEO.bet, a brand of Reactive Betting Limited, received its licence to thrill from iGaming Ontario in March and is introducing online gaming for the first time to its business. Ganguli, a former professional soccer player in India who left a head of marketing gig there to join NEO.bet 13 months ago, said the company has taken a cautious approach in joining a crowded house of operators in Ontario.
“We finally have the standards and product up and running to the standards we want,” he said yesterday. “We’re not in the quantity game. We don’t mind having fewer customers (than the major players) but we want them to have a better experience. It shouldn’t feel like it is us against them.
“When you go to Amazon to buy something, you don’t feel like they’re trying to cheat you. We want our customers to enjoy playing with us, so they’re with us for a long time.”
Ganguli said NEO.bet, which joins FanDuel as an authorized gaming operator and official betting partner, is continuing discussions with the league about activations to take place around the partnership. Online contests, quizzes and other content competitions for fans are in the works, he added. We’re told both parties will work together on growing the CFL’s presence in NEO.bet’s sports betting product along with educating fans of the three-down game about gambling responsibly.
Latest Gaming News Canada Show podcast features an all-USA panel
The latest episode of the Gaming News Canada Show podcast comes out later this week. Dustin Gouker, the former VP of North American content for Catena Media, makes his maiden appearance on the pod to provide some education and insight into the controversial intersection of sports betting and daily fantasy sports that’s taking place south of the border these days. SBC executives Sue Schneider and Nicole Fields also joined us for a conversation about their involvement in a recent gathering of women from the gaming industry in Las Vegas.
In case you missed last week’s episode with Rivalry CEO Steven Salz and SIGA president/CEO Zane Hansen:
On the Home Front
During an earnings call this week, Rush Street Interactive CEO Richard Schwartz said he remains confident that other provinces will follow Ontario’s foray into regulated sports betting and igaming.
Money launderers and other convicted criminals are being barred by casinos in La Belle Province after a ruling by the Quebec government.
As Scott Longley reported in Earnings + More last week, PointsBet CEO Sam Swanell said the company would continue its investment in Ontario “given it provides ‘continued exposure’ to the North American market in a jurisdiction that is ‘more attractive than most U.S. states’ “.
The AGCO is moving ahead with a proposal supporting the expansion of 50/50 electronic raffle draws in Ontario. So much for the days of buying an arm’s length of 50/50 tickets for a fiver at your local arena. . . #sigh.
Members of the Greo team - including Lindsay Kalbfleisch, Jess Voll and Sasha Starks - were in DC last week presenting at the National Conference on Gambling Addiction and Responsible Gambling.
Great Canadian Entertainment announced Tuesday that the 400-room hotel at its Toronto casino resort near Woodbine Racetrack is now ready for your lounging/sleeping/escaping-from-the-kids pleasure.
Speaking of the casino resort, you can expect the language in the kitchen to get a little. . . . er . . . . saltier thanks to a pending partnership with Gordon Ramsey North America:
Finally, the champion of the 2023 RBC Canadian Open made a stop Monday along the Toronto lakefront as part of a GTA media tour.
Classified (Jobs) Information
Friend of GNC Jonathan Revie got in touch Tuesday with your humble courier of industry happenings to let us know that Bettingjobs.com continues to seek candidates for a Chief Operating Officer position with a global B2B igaming provider to be based in our nation’s capital.
LeoVegas is hiring a CRM Manager - Regulated Markets.
BV Group has a vacancy for a Retention and Engagement Manager.
Toronto-based Gamelancer Media has a remote opening for a Director, Performance Marketing.
HappyHour.ie is seeking a Senior Accountant for its Malta headquarters.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency is searching for an HR and Organizational Development Manager.
Our friends at The GIST are in the market for a Sports Biz Writer.
A tap of ye olde True twig to Elliotte Friedman for flagging this Hockey Data Engineer opening with the St. Louis Blues.
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