Soccer now takes centre stage with Proline bettors

With the Stanley Cup playoffs over, soccer is taking centre stage with Proline bettors.

According to the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., 66 per cent of bettors picked France to down Belgium on Monday (1-0) but only 16 per cent predicted Portugal and Slovenia to tie (0-0).

On Sunday, 76 per cent successfully predicted Spain to beat Georgia (4-1) but just 18 per cent picked Portugal and Slovenia to tie (0-0). And then Saturday, 29 per cent of customers had Switzerland downing Italy (2-0) but 83 per cent saw Germany downing Denmark (2-0).

The top-five events were all games from the European championship tournament with Portugal-Slovenia being No. 1.

Meanwhile at Copa America, Canada advanced to the quarterfinal round with a 0-0 tie versus Chile. Twenty-eight per cent of bettors picked the tie while 58 per cent had the under 2.5 goals.

Canada faces Venezuela on Friday with just 19 per cent of early customers supporting a Canadian victory.

The Toronto Blue Jays suffered a 3-1 loss to the Houston Astros on Monday. Only 41 per cent of bettors took Houston to win while 33 per cent had the total under 8.5 runs.

A Proline retail customer won $11,875 from a $20 bet on a four-pick major league baseball parlay as Toronto's Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Shohei Ohtani, Jose Ramirez and Anthony Santander all homered Saturday. A digital customer turned a $5 wager into a payout of $1,125 on a nine-pick baseball parlay.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 3, 2024.

The Canadian Press