Canada legalizes sports betting! Plus Wednesday NBA Sharp Report – VSiN Exclusive News – News
Another key domino in the widespread legalization of sports betting fell on Tuesday. But this time it wasn’t a specific US state. It was the whole country of Canada.
Yesterday, the Senate of Canada voted 57-20 in favor of Bill C-218, known as the Safe and Regulated Sports Betting Act, which officially legalized sports betting for individual games. Sports betting has been legal in Canada for many years, but until now bettors have only been able to bet on multiple events. In other words, bettors were forced to bet on parlays only. Historically, parlays have offered a massive hold percentage to the house, not the individual bettor. With the approval of Bill C-218, Canadian bettors can now bet on single game events.
Canada has a population of 38 million, roughly the size of the largest US state, California. It represents a huge win for bettors and sports betting providers alike who are trying to break into this huge, untapped new market.
As if legalization in Canada wasn’t enough, we also saw Governor John Bel Edwards sign legal sports betting in Louisiana. We now have up to 30 legal states in America including Washington DC. That means 60% of the US states have legalized sports betting.
30 down. 20 to go.
Now the weather is turning to Wednesday where we have 13 MLB games, 1 NBA playoff game and 1 NHL playoff game to choose from. For an updated breakdown of Wednesday’s betting promotions, be sure to tune in to the VSiN Market Insights Podcast with Josh Appelbaum. It will be released at 1 p.m. ET. I will also be moderating ET Betting Across America with Mike Pritchard from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. We are accompanied by Adam Burke, Shaun King and Duane Colucci.
In the meantime, let’s discuss where the money goes for the big NBA playoff game tonight …
8:30 p.m. ET: Atlanta Hawks at Milwaukee Bucks
This is Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals. The Hawks are 8-4 total this postseason, beating the Knicks 4-1 in the first round and then defeating the 76ers by 4-3, including a 103-96 win in Game 7 that came out as a 6.5 point Dogs directly wins. Now they face the Bucks, who are 8-3 in total this postseason. Milwaukee swept the Heat 4-0 in round one and then defeated the Nets 4-3, winning 115-111 in Game 7 as 2-point street dogs. Today’s Game 1 showdown opened when Milwaukee was listed as a home favorite with 7.5 points. Some books opened at Bucks -8. Early on, we saw respectable money tumble on the hawks at + 8 and + 7.5, bringing that line down to 7 to -7.5. Essentially, all of the liability was on Atlanta plus the points. Shorter favorites -6.5 or less have lost 37-23 ATS (62%) this postseason. However, favorites -7 or more are only 7-8 ATS (47%). The Bucks are ATS 4-4 as a favorite this postseason. The Hawks are 6-4 ATS as a dog, including 5-2 ATS as a street dog. The grand opened at 227.5 and has fallen to 226, indicating some sharp action in the sub-range. If the grand total is 220 or more, the lower limit is 10-2 (83%) in the conference finals of the last decade. One injury to watch is Hawks shooting guard Bogdan Bogdanovic, who remains questionable with a sore knee. The Bucks are -500 favorites (83.3% implied probability) to win the series at BetMGM. The hawks are + 375 dogs.
Updated NBA title odds
Bucks + 110 suns + 125 falcons + 1200 clippers + 1400
Remember to check the VSiN betting splits every day for money and ticket counts so you can see who the public is betting on.
