TORONTO — With no Canadian teams left in the NHL playoffs, the NBA has taken centre stage with Proline-plus customers.
According to the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., the top-five betting events last week were all NBA playoff contests. The first three games of the Boston Celtics-Miami Heat took three of those slots (Game 3 being tops, with the first and second games coming fourth and fifth, respectively) with the second and third games of the Denver Nuggets-Los Angeles Lakers series taking third and second, respectively.
The Denver Nuggets booked their ticket to the NBA final Monday night with a 113-111 win over Los Angeles to complete a four-game sweep of the Western Conference final. Sixty-six per cent of bettors picked the Nuggets to win while 67 per cent took them +3.5 points.
But just 24 per cent had the total under 224.5 points.
Miami holds a 3-0 Eastern Conference series lead over Boston heading into Tuesday’s Game 4 after taking a 128-103 win on Sunday. Sixty-five per cent of customers had Miami winning and 76 per cent picked the Heat +5.5 points and the over (213.5).
In the NHL playoffs, the Florida Panthers lead the Carolina Hurricanes 3-0 in their conference final following a 1-0 victory Monday. Forty-seven per cent of bettors had the Panthers winning while 55 per cent correctly took the under 5.5 goals.
The Vegas Golden Knights took a 2-0 lead over the Dallas Stars in the other conference final with a 3-2 overtime victory Sunday. Fifty-four per cent of customers had Vegas to win but only 28 per cent took the under 5.5 goals.
Last week was a tough one for the Toronto Blue Jays, who lost six-of-seven games to the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles. On Sunday night, the Jays allowed five runs in the top of the 11th inning of an 8-3 loss to Baltimore.
Just 38 per cent of bettors had the Orioles to win and 35 per cent picked Baltimore +1.5 runs. However, 70 per cent had the total over 8.5 runs.
A Proline retail player turned a $1 wager on an eight-pick soccer parlay into a $1,741.30 payout. Another placed a $20 bet on an eight-pick mixed sport parlay that returned $3,364.
A Proline digital customer put down $22 on a six-pick mixed sport parlay that won $2,252.20.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 23, 2022.
