Could Ontarians someday bet on sports using the same stores they purchase beer at? The provincial government hasn’t said no.
Canada’s most populous province is shaking up booze retail once more, with the Ontario government announcing last month that it will soon expand sales of beer, cider, wine, and ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages to corner and “big-box” stores.
Supermarkets in Ontario, which can already sell beer and wine, could stock coolers and ready-made drinks as well. Those grocery stores could also start selling 30-packs of beer.
But the “largest expansion of consumer choice and convenience since the end of prohibition almost 100 years ago” will come with some tradeoffs for Ontario’s traditional retailers of alcoholic beverages, The Beer Store and the Liquor Control Board of Ontario, or LCBO.
The Beer Store — owned by three beer companies — will get up to $225 million from the provincial government to help with the transition. And, as first reported by 680 NewsRadio Toronto, the retailer’s new deal with Ontario also states that the province shall not stop The Beer Store from selling certain other products, “including lottery tickets,” at its more than 400 stores in the province.
This raises an interesting question: can The Beer Store offer PROLINE?
The Ford government is allowing the Beer Store to sell almost anything it wants. The Convenience Store Association isn’t particularly thrilled, neither are opposition leaders who wonder why the chain still neeeds taxpayer $. My story for CityNews at 5&6 https://t.co/D9CC4YaxRM
— Richard Southern (@RichardCityNews) June 12, 2024
PROLINE is the long-running in-person sports betting product operated by the government-owned Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. OLG also runs an online version of the sportsbook, PROLINE+.
Still, at convenience stores and other authorized retail locations across Ontario, residents can walk in and fill out a paper selection slip, or one they've already generated on their phone, and get a betting ticket.
So, is a PROLINE ticket a lottery ticket or "other" product? And does that then mean The Beer Store could act as a brick-and-mortar sportsbook of sorts for Ontarians who want a case of a macro-brew and some action on Monday Night Football?
Nobody has ruled it out, at least not when asked by Covers this week.
“In the transition to the expanded marketplace, the Beer Store will have the ability to serve other products including lottery tickets,” said Colin Blachar, press secretary for Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy, in an email. “However, The Beer Store would still have to go through the same process as all other lottery retailers.”
No lottery love for LCBO
Unlike The Beer Store, Blachar said the government-owned LCBO does not currently sell lottery tickets “and the government has no plans to change that.”
The Beer Store did not respond to questions from Covers before this story was published. OLG, meanwhile, said it is “constantly evaluating opportunities to expand points of distribution to better serve our customer and fulfill our mandate from government.”
There technically could be sports betting at The Beer Store already, as Ontario has widespread mobile wagering offered by a small army of iGaming operators.
The province launched its competitive iGaming market in April 2022 and billions have since been wagered with more than 40 Ontario sports betting operators, such as bet365, DraftKings, and FanDuel. Somebody at The Beer Store could pull up one of those apps and place a bet.
PROLINE possibilities
But OLG offers iGaming as well and was doing so before the provincial government permitted outside competition a few years ago. OLG has also offered in-person sports betting for decades with PROLINE at authorized lottery retailers.
While online is the preferred avenue for most bettors in Ontario, there are still loyal PROLINE customers who like to place their wagers at their local convenience store. They may now eventually be able to do so at The Beer Store counter, which would give OLG another avenue for sales.
OLG has spent time improving PROLINE over the past few years, such as by adding single-game wagering when that became legal in Canada in the summer of 2021.
Yet, returns from that in-store wagering declined recently. OLG reported that revenue from its lottery sports betting business was roughly $91 million for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023, down from $95 million the year before. The company has yet to report numbers for 2023-24.
Even so, OLG may take the opening offered by the recent shake-up to alcohol retail to try to juice lottery and PROLINE sales.
“We evaluate opportunities on a case-by-case basis,” OLG told Covers this week.
