Betting buzz is picking up with the Canadian Football League’s Grey Cup championship game between the Toronto Argonauts and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers set to kick off Sunday at 3 p.m. PST in Vancouver.
FanDuel Canada, a sports-betting partner of the Canadian Football League, reports the Bombers as a 9.5-point favorite to win the game, with questions about the Argos quarterbacking after Chad Kelly went down in the Eastern Final game against the Montreal Alouettes this past Sunday with a gruesome leg injury.
The top three most-bet player props, according to a FanDuel Canada spokesperson, are Brady Oliveira (Bombers) – Rushing Yards (Oliveira Over), Makai Polk (Argos) – Receiving Yards (Polk Under), and Kenny Lawler (Bombers) – Receiving Yards (Lawler Over).
This year, FanDuel Canada is bringing Jonas Brother fans exciting novelty prop bets for the “Twisted Tea Halftime Show” with fun wagers like “first song, celebrity to make a guest appearance on stage,” and if the Jonas Bros will perform a solo song.
The FanDuel Canada Trading team noted that “Burnin’ Up” has seen the most bets for first song and Carly Rae Jepsen is the most-bet celebrity to appear onstage.
Additionally, FanDuel Canada customers will find Grey Cup staples, like “color of Gatorade poured on the winning coach” and the result of the coin toss.
The British Columbia Lottery Corporation also got in on the action, signing on with the CFL in September, making BCLC’s PlayNow Sports the official sports-betting partner of the Grey Cup. Evoke’s 888 is another league sponsor.
There’s been some mystery about what happened with BetRegal, considering that BetRegal signed on with the CFL in 2021.
Sportsnet’s Arash Madani wrote a critical piece this week on CFL Commissioner Randy Ambrosie, who’s leaving the position following the Grey Cup after seven years in the job, citing Ambrosie’s failure to boost league revenues and team valuations.
One thing that came up in the article was the situation involving the CFL and BetRegal. As Madani pointed out, Ambrosie was front and center when Bill C-218, which legalized single-game sports betting in Canada, was making its way through the Senate, eyeing the revenue-generation potential for the CFL.
BetRegal signed a three-year sponsorship (two years, plus an option) with the league in August 2021, before the regulated market went live in Ontario (April 2022). BetRegal also signed ensuing marketing agreements with the Hamilton Tiger Cats and Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 2022.
BetRegal was a smaller scrappy Canadian company that invested early on in their CFL partnership, as well as with PGA of Canada. Seeing value in those parterships, they were looking to get an early jump on building brand awareness and credibility in the Ontario market before the big operators, like Caesars, FanDuel, BetMGM, and DraftKings, could grab a license, build a foothold, and outbid BetRegal.
BetRegal wanted exclusivity with the CFL. The intent was to push that free-to-play product across Canada until they got licensed, then they could drive people to the betting site. They had a presence during the Grey Cup Weeks of the past. There were ticket and product giveaways. They did a lot of event work with players like Matt Dunigan and Damon Allen. They had sponsored sections at Tim Horton Field in Hamilton. BetRegal was ahead of the game, in many ways.
Ultimately, BetRegal never got their license. Who knows why it happened that way? The CFL started eyeing agreements with multiple operators. The Bombers and Ticats deals have expired. BetRegal has, in fact, gone under, the software having been sold off.
When we last reported on BetRegal, they were going through an audit as part of the AGCO licensing process. There’s a substantial cost that the operator must outlay with audits. Yet for some reason, BetRegal couldn’t get over the goal line and sent a note out to players this past April, throwing in the towel, well after their CFL deal expired.
“Dear Customer, please be aware that we have suspended all wagering activity effective immediately. We are in the process of making arrangements for settlement of all accounts. Player balances and information are secure. You can continue to access your account during this time. We appreciate your patience and will update you with relevant information and instructions when it becomes available.”
All in all, it was never a good look for BetRegal or the CFL. You can hang that on Ambrosie if you want, jumping in too early with an igaming company before that company had a license.
The truth is the CFL commissioner pivoted and moved to FanDuel, BCLC, and 888. FanDuel became the first authorized gaming operator and an official sportsbook partner with the CFL in 2023.
The BetRegal situation, though, shone a spotlight on how rigorous the AGCO licensing process is (there are currently 32 sports-betting sites licensed and operating in Ontario).
And that’s a good thing, right?
