Interesting News
The recent bill signed by George Bush and the private member's bill issued by Jeff Leal in Ontario, Canada, are designed to curtail online betting. In both cases, the governments want you to feel that they are somehow making a dent in the area of problem gambling, particularly among young people by stomping out sports and poker betting online. At the same time, the U.S. government has created an exemption for horse racing and lotteries and in Canada, Jeff Leal himself stated that the main concern with online gambling is that it is taking away revenue from the lotteries, race tracks and the video lottery terminals located at the racetrack.
The recent bill signed by George Bush and the private member's bill issued by Jeff Leal in Ontario, Canada, are designed to curtail online betting. In both cases, the governments want you to feel that they are somehow making a dent in the area of problem gambling, particularly among young people by stomping out sports and poker betting online. At the same time, the U.S. government has created an exemption for horse racing and lotteries and in Canada, Jeff Leal himself stated that the main concern with online gambling is that it is taking away revenue from the lotteries, race tracks and the video lottery terminals located at the racetrack.
Ontario News
In Ontario, the 2005 annual report wasn't much better. For the year ended March 2005, almost $4 billion was wagered in lotteries, in charity casinos and on video lottery terminals at racetracks. The payback to the bettors was 70%. Yikes! The sports lottery pro line had a disproportionate number of young, male bettors, far less than what sportsbooks get. This shouldn't be surprising, after all pro line requires the player to wager a minimum 3 team parlay and the payout is similar to the lottery at 60%. A pick 'em game on pro line has a dividend of 1.7 on either side which equals about -142 on both sides. Multiply that by 3 to 6 and one can see why the payout is so low. When pro line first came out they made some mistakes and had several lines that were out of whack with reality. As such, even a ridiculous game with odds of 1.7 was tempting if the true line on that game was say 1.33 (-300). In fact on a famous weekend in Ontario the government had insanely high odds on several hockey games with odds as high as 8/1 on the Ottawa Senators against Montreal. All the longshots won and the lottery got clobbered by these young shot takers who wagered $5 to win upwards of $25,000. But today the lines are sharper and to protect themselves the OLGC waits until the day of the game to post odds and takes games off the board very quickly at the first inclination that the lines may be off. Hence any advantage at all that existed for the player was quickly eliminated.
In Ontario, the 2005 annual report wasn't much better. For the year ended March 2005, almost $4 billion was wagered in lotteries, in charity casinos and on video lottery terminals at racetracks. The payback to the bettors was 70%. Yikes! The sports lottery pro line had a disproportionate number of young, male bettors, far less than what sportsbooks get. This shouldn't be surprising, after all pro line requires the player to wager a minimum 3 team parlay and the payout is similar to the lottery at 60%. A pick 'em game on pro line has a dividend of 1.7 on either side which equals about -142 on both sides. Multiply that by 3 to 6 and one can see why the payout is so low. When pro line first came out they made some mistakes and had several lines that were out of whack with reality. As such, even a ridiculous game with odds of 1.7 was tempting if the true line on that game was say 1.33 (-300). In fact on a famous weekend in Ontario the government had insanely high odds on several hockey games with odds as high as 8/1 on the Ottawa Senators against Montreal. All the longshots won and the lottery got clobbered by these young shot takers who wagered $5 to win upwards of $25,000. But today the lines are sharper and to protect themselves the OLGC waits until the day of the game to post odds and takes games off the board very quickly at the first inclination that the lines may be off. Hence any advantage at all that existed for the player was quickly eliminated.
24-04-2006 Ontario to ban ads for online gambling websites
A private member's bill that proposes to ban ads for gambling websites that are not licensed by the Government of Canada, has received second reading by a voice vote in the Ontario Legislature.
Canadian press reports speculated that the Government of Ontario could decide to adopt the bill introduced by Liberal MPP Jeff Leal as its own and push it through the Legislature.
In separate news, Bill Rutsey, President of the Canadian Gaming Association, called for legalized betting on individual sporting events. Rutsey wants to attract to bricks-and-mortar casinos the money being wagered with internet sportsbooks or with illegal bookies.
"There's a huge underground economy with respect to sports betting, and I think [legal sports books] are a product that people want," he told The Vancouver Sun. "I think it's better that it be offered legitimately and safely, instead of turning that business over to the Internet or to the criminal element."
http://www.bookmakersreview.com/n/A...ario_to_ban_ads_for_online_gambling_websites/
A private member's bill that proposes to ban ads for gambling websites that are not licensed by the Government of Canada, has received second reading by a voice vote in the Ontario Legislature.
Canadian press reports speculated that the Government of Ontario could decide to adopt the bill introduced by Liberal MPP Jeff Leal as its own and push it through the Legislature.
In separate news, Bill Rutsey, President of the Canadian Gaming Association, called for legalized betting on individual sporting events. Rutsey wants to attract to bricks-and-mortar casinos the money being wagered with internet sportsbooks or with illegal bookies.
"There's a huge underground economy with respect to sports betting, and I think [legal sports books] are a product that people want," he told The Vancouver Sun. "I think it's better that it be offered legitimately and safely, instead of turning that business over to the Internet or to the criminal element."
http://www.bookmakersreview.com/n/A...ario_to_ban_ads_for_online_gambling_websites/
