TORONTO 鈥� It's the start of another NHL season and again hope springs eternal among Proline bettors for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Edmonton Oilers.
According to The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., Canadian teams are among the top five favourites among bettors to win the Stanley Cup this season. Toronto last captured the NHL championship in 1967 while the Oilers' last celebrated with the hallowed trophy in 1990.
The other clubs included the Pittsburgh Penguins, Carolina Hurricanes and New Jersey Devils.
Not surprisingly, Edmonton captain Connor McDavid is among the favourites to win the Hart Trophy. McDavid won his third Hart Trophy last year after accumulating 153 points, the most in the NHL since Pittsburgh's Mario Lemieux had 161 in 1995-96.
Ontario bettors also like Jack Hughes (New Jersey Devils), Auston Matthews (Toronto Maple Leafs), Connor Bedard (Chicago Blackhawks) and Nathan MacKinnon (Colorado Avalanche).
Bedard tops the list of the most bet on players for the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL's top rookie. Joining him are Matthew Knies (Toronto), Logan Cooley (Arizona Coyotes), Tyson Foerster (Philadelphia Flyers) and Adam Fantilli (Columbus Blue Jackets).
Matthews, who had 60 goals in 2021-22, is among the top five players most bet on to win the Rocket Richard Trophy for most regular-season goals. McDavid (last year's winner), Edmonton teammate Leon Draisaitl, Bedard and MacKinnon round out that list.
On Sunday night, San Francisco defeated the Dallas Cowboys 42-10 in NFL action. A solid 60 per cent of bettors had the 49ers winning while 65 per cent had them beating the point spread of minus-5.5.
A whopping 87 per cent of bettors correctly had the over 44.5 total points. However, less than five per cent of money was on 49ers running back Christian McCaffery finishing under 78.5 rushing yards as he had a season-low 51 yards on the ground.
On Monday night, the Las Vegas Raiders edged the Green Bay Packers 17-13. A total of 36 per cent of wagers had the Raiders winning on the moneyline but only 26 per cent correctly picked the under 44.5 points.聽
And only nine per cent had the game going under 21.5 points in the opening half.
Last week, Minnesota swept the Toronto Blue Jays to win their best-of-three American League wild-card playoff series 2-0. The Twins won the opener 3-1 on Tuesday, snapping an 18-game playoff losing streak.
Not surprising, most of the money was on Toronto winning the game on the moneyline.
Minnesota ended Toronto's season with a 2-0 victory Wednesday. Again, most Proline bettors had the Blue Jays to win on the moneyline.
A Proline retail customer won $3,426 from a $5 bet placed on nine English soccer contests Saturday. But another earned $28,985 from a $50 wager placed on 12 NFL games Sunday.
A Proline Plus bettor turned a $10 bet into a $20,573 payday on nine NFL games Sunday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 11, 2023.
The Canadian Press
