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Bally Bet Ontario & Canada Review 2024
Updated January 12, 2024
Bally Bet has now removed sports betting from their Ontario offering, back to where they began in the province, as they only launched with their online casino. Sports betting is not available at all from your computer or from your mobile. So if you are one of the many people that like to play casino games but also want to place a sports wager, you will not be able to do this at Bally Bet.
That's major drawback #1, but #2 is as important: at their launch and for the many months that followed they only accepted Visa and Mastercard payments - no Interac e-transfers, Instadebit or any other bank debit or prepaid method. This means that players had to submit to ridiculously high interest charges through your card provider to play at Bally Bet Ontario. This is because all gaming-related payments in Canada (including Ontario), via credit card are treated as cash advances, not purchases. Plus, to add insult to injury, your card provider will charge a flat fee in addition to the interest. Given that all of our recommended Ontario sportsbooks or legal Ontario online casinos launched their websites with an array of preferred bank debit or prepaid payment options, there is no way in the world we could recommend Bally Bet to our Ontario readers. This is before we even get into how their sports betting app performs. Talk about getting the basics of Ontario sports betting wrong. Thankfully, about a year from launch, Bally Bet finally added Interac.
Bally Bet Grade |
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• Now a casino-only offering in Ontario, with no sportsbook component. • Credit cards only, meaning high interest & fees just to play. • Launched without Interac, Instadebit, iDebit or prepaid card options for payments, requiring high fees to play.
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Is Bally Bet legal in Ontario? Who can play at Bally Bet Canada?
Bally Bet is a licensed operator for Ontario. You must be physically located in Ontario to play at Bally Bet Canada. If you are located in BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec, the Atlantic provinces or the Territories, Bally Bet is not available to you for play. They do not have a "grey market" site or app based "off shore". For the best operators outside Ontario, read our Canadian betting site reviews or see our top Interac online casinos for Canada. All the brands listed therein belong to the top tier of international gaming operators, support CAD accounts and payment methods, and have all moved to gain their license in the Ontario market.
Just note that you would be playing at their "international" sites based in places like Kahnawake, Malta, or Gibraltar. Each brand also offers players outside Ontario with a mix of gaming options beyond the sportsbook. In some cases both betting and casino play are offered, while in other cases, poker and bingo might also be available. Don't risk your hard-earned cash at a scammy Russian or Eastern European betting site or online casino that advertise heavily during European soccer matches or through free-to-play dot-net ads on Canadian TV. Getting your money out of these sites can be very difficult once you've paid into them, so steer clear.
About Bally Bet (The rest of this review applied to the brief period where they did offer sports betting in Ontario)
Bally Bet is the online brand for the Bally's Corporation. Bally's has 14 casino locations across the United States and launched online and mobile sports betting in Colorado, Iowa, Indiana and Virginia, with more states coming online soon. Bally's has struck some innovative partnerships in the US to complement their mobile and online sports betting operation. The most important of which is the joint venture with Sinclair Broadcast Group to rename their regional sports network as 'Bally Sports'. Bally Bet is also an official betting partner of the NHL, NBA and MLB, so you will find these related logos on their Ontario apps. Despite these positive points on the marketing side, Bally Bet is perhaps the most limited, US-centric online sportsbook we have reviewed. If you have any sporting interest outside the 'big four' sports, in our opinion, you would do well to avoid Bally Bet. Furthermore, if you like lots of available betting markets on the 'big four' leagues, you'll be disappointed. Read on to see why.
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Gambling can be addictive, please play responsibly. Visit ConnexOntario.ca for help. Eligible iGames conducted & managed by iGO are only available to those physically present in Ontario. |
BallyBet Canada sport coverage of the 'big four'
The sports that BallyBet covers most are the traditional 'big four', plus NCAA football and basketball. However, although they cover these the most, this does not equal 'good coverage' of these leagues and sports. Whether we are talking the NFL, NBA, NHL or MLB, we have never seen such limited coverage in the available betting markets.
We are used to seeing hundreds of available betting markets for the leagues that would be considered the most popular in Canada. If you like to bet on a wide variety of markets, Bally Bet does not provide it. They have some player props but they are very limited when compared to other top iGaming Ontario online sportsbooks that provide blanket coverage of these leagues.
Does Bally Bet Ontario have Same Game Parlays or a Bet Builder?
At the time of our review, Bally Bet did not have Game Game Parlays or a Bet Builder. We tried to create an NFL same game parlay, and the bet slip told us that our events were related, and thus we could not place the parlay as selected . If you'd like to build your own bet as surrounding a single NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB or top level soccer game, you would be better off looking at bet365 Ontario, Unibet Ontario or BetRivers Ontario as they have the most robust SGP features, available on most events, across the biggest leagues.
BallyBet Canada soccer coverage: 'Disappointing' doesn't quite describe it
BallyBet Canada has extremely limited soccer coverage, as they only cover the top European leagues, plus the UEFA club competitions. They do not cover any European or International soccer leagues beyond these, which is perhaps the most limited soccer coverage we have ever seen by any online sportsbook - ever.
Want to bet on the Portuguese Primeira Liga, Polish Ekstraklasa, or any other European or South American League? You will not be able to at BallyBet Ontario unless they really look to expand their offering. If you like to bet on soccer at all - BallyBet will certainly come up way short without significant improvement. Every one of our recommended legal Ontario betting sites has full coverage of all these soccer leagues, with a full array of pre-match and live in-play betting markets.
BallyBet Ontario odds margins
When it comes to the betting markets for the most popular North American sports and leagues, BallyBet operates with what are considered to be average odds margins. For typical NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL handicap markets where the odds figures tend to be equal on both potential outcomes, you will find odds that look like 1.90/1.90 or -110/-110. This indicates a margin or sportsbook hold of around 5%. This is standard value in for these leagues, not bad, not great.
Above, we've already highlighted BallyBet's limited soccer coverage. If you do look to bet on soccer with Bally Bet, the odds margin on the main 1X2 market blows out beyond 7% and 8%, which is way too high for top leagues or important international matches. Margins, should be closer to 4% or 5% on these matches. If you expect competitive odds outside the 'big four' leagues, you won't find it at Bally Bet Canada - that's if you can find coverage.
BallyBet Canada esports betting
"What's esports betting?" That would be the response from Bally Bet, as we can see zero esports betting coverage on their Ontario mobile app. None. You cannot find esports on any of their US site versions either, despite them being allowed to offer it in various states. If you want access to legal esports wagering from Canada's largest province, see our top Ontario esports betting sites.
Recommendations for Bally Bet Canada
Bally Bet has a very limited sportsbook offering in Ontario. It is almost solely focused on US sporting tastes. Within what they do cover, they do not offer competitive odds, nor do they offer the kinds of features that are available at all of the top Ontario operators. Ontario's demographics are very different compared to the US, especially the state markets where BallyBet has been established. If BallyBet Canada fails to improve coverage of the areas we have pointed out, or continues to offer sportsbook hold levels that are way over most licensed providers in the province, we would say that Bally Bet has very little chance to survive in the market in the long term. (Update in 2023: Bally Bet has signed up with Kambi as their new sportsbook platform provider, which should eventually improve things to a large degree. In the meanwhile, they will be taking their sportsbook out of service for a period of time.)
