Canada’s Atlantic Lottery Corporation (ALC) has become the first provincial lottery to offer online betting on a reality TV show through its Pro-Line Stadium online betting site.
Having offered bets on the Academy Awards for the first time earlier this year, the ALC has added a new novelty bet to its offering by allowing players to bet on reality TV show The Voice.
Residents of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island can place bets on singing contest The Voice, now in its fifth season, with odds on whether the competition’s eventual winner will be male or female currently being offered. Players will also be able to bet on which of the four coaches they think will win
Bets are placed through the site’s Pro-Line Futures offering, where players make long-term bets on the outcome of an event at the start of a competition, ahead of the final competitors being decided. The service is more popularly used for sporting events, such as allowing bettors to wager on the outcome of the Superbowl or the FIFA World Cup in the early stages of the events.
“While sports are the usual offering on Pro-Line Futures, we will add non-sports bets from time to time – like the movie awards or the US voice reality competition – to keep things interesting for our players,” said James Reilly, senior brand manager for sports lotteries for the ALC.
New betting categories will be added as the season progresses, eventually allowing players to bet on the winning contestant and winning judge, with singers Adam Levine, Cee-Lo Green, Blake Shelton and Christina Aguilera comprising the judging panel.
“We like to offer our PRO∙LINE players a little novelty,” Reilly explained. “It’s meant to be a fun, non-sports option on our Pro-Line Futures game. It gives fans of the show more than just water-cooler bragging rights if they make the right picks – it gives them a chance to pick their favourites and have it pay off.”