(By Cam Hutchinson)

A new exclusive online sports betting site is hoping to capture a good-sized portion of the hundreds of millions of dollars that citizens of our province are wagering with off-shore companies.

You can say it’s about time.

Saskatchewan is the last province in the country to offer online sports wagering.

It is good news for those of us who like to throw a few dollars down on a game, and want to keep our losses in the province.

PlayNow.com is exclusively for Saskatchewan residents. You must have a Saskatchewan address and be in Saskatchewan when you make a wager. This is our baby.

The Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority (SIGA) will be the operator of PlayNow.

It is estimated that $14 billion is leaving Canada annually for sports wagers. It is headed to so-called gray-area, off-shore companies, and some to organized crime.

I am not sure about the term “gray area,” when these companies are spending millions in advertising campaigns in Canada. It seems hypocritical to use a term that makes them seem like bad guys. Let’s say we are betting with respectable foreign companies, and now we want to bring some of the money home.

I have found England-based Bet365 to be top-notch when it comes to security, fairness, and making rapid payouts. It started as a family business about 20 years ago. The family still owns 50.1 percent of the company.

When the PlayNow app goes live on Nov. 3, we will be able to make wagers on a wide array of sporting events, with pro sports leading thr way. There will be amateur sports available, including some USports games in Canada and NCAA sports in the United States. I can only imagine how many Canadian dollars are spent on March Madness.

We won’t be able to bet on are game involving junior hockey and junior football. That sounds good to me.

As mentioned, there are some major players in the world of sports betting.

Bet365 has more than 50 million subscribers. it doesn’t like losing market share. When single-game betting started in Canada, Bet365 launched a Canadian app. It was no different, as far as I could tell, but has our flag on it.

Bet365’s figures for the year March 2020 to March 2021 showed $4.329 billion Cdn in revenue with a before-tax profit of $726 million Cdn. The company has an estimated 4,000 employees. These guys are big.

The profit number represents those that lost money on sports or in Bet365’s casino.

There is still a stigma about gambling. I am not ashamed to say I play on Bet365. I have even bet on a curling game on the site. I once won after making a small wager on cricket. Having as little as $5 or $10 on a game makes it more exciting to watch.

I admit I was part of a group that bet illegally 40 years ago.

A group of between five and 10 of us bet through Toronto bookie. Because we followed hockey closely, we thought we were smarter than the oddsmaker. We weren’t, of course.

One guy would be in touch with the bookie. He would get the numbers for that day over the phone and spread them around. guys would make their choices and our designated guy would call the bookie to place the bets.

Money was transferred back and forth through a bank account. Trust me, more money went out than came in. If the bank flagged the account, it never was acted upon.

I don’t know for sure how we got hooked up with the bookie. I think it. was a friend of a friend of a friend who connected us, and must have vouched for us. We never worried about our knees.

I was playing pittances compared to my friends; I hated losing way more than I enjoyed winning. I found there was guilt attached to losing.

I feared that the whole lot of us would end up in jail. Of course, the police would be after the bookie. “Ed” was just a name and phone number. he could have been using a payphone like in the movies, for all we knew.

There were a few times when we played with a Regina bookie. One week, we collectively won a few thousand dollars. Suddenly, his phone was disconnected. What could we do? Call the police?

I wondered how PlayNow will affect Sports Select, something many of us have played at our local confectionaries for years and years. The odds were awful, but we played along. Other than illegal betting, it was the only option.

Some say the two will compliment each other. If that is the hope, why is Sports Select making changes to its profit margins? Sudden, those making a wager are going to be treated fairly when it comes to payouts.

Sports Select has moved its payout on point spread and over/under bets to 1.80 from 1.70. What that means is Sports Select’s take will go from 43 percent to 25 percent. Other provinces are between 10 and 14 percent. There is speculation that Sports Select will go lower, as it should have years ago.

Remember, we only get to play on the site in our province. People think sports betting is easy. Given the take that goes to the house, you will lose money by winning half your bets.

You will need to win 53 percent of bets of equal value to make money.

I have seen the heartbreak — not my heart — of a missed convert at the end of the game swinging a $900 profit to a $1,000 loss — remember you are paying $110 to win $100. That 10 percent adds up. Garbage-time touchdowns kill or win bets. Empty net goals in hockey can be great or horrible.
I know one person who stands for the entire game if he has a few dollars on it. Every play seems like it’s so important. There is no doubt sporting betting provides adrenalin rushes.

Saskatoon Grasswood MP Kevin Waugh hopes some of the profits from gambling in Saskatchewan are used in the area of mental health.

“Mental health and addictions are getting bigger every day in this country,” Waugh told Global News.

“Provincial governments are looking for ways of funding it. This is one of the ways that they can get some funds to put into addictions and mental health to help Canadians if they are in need.”

PlayNow will have a partnership with the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

PlayNow will become the team’s official online casino and sportsbook. The PlayNow.com logo will be featured on team jerseys, and probably was in the game against Calgary, which mercifully brought the season to a close.

PlayNow also has partnerships with the BC Lions, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and the Vancouver Canucks.

“We are excited to welcome PlayNow.com as a valued partner and newest member of our strong Rider Nation,” Roughrider president and CEO Craig Reynolds said in a news release.

Let’s hope some of the money the Riders receive is used to sign offensive linemen and a quarterback. And a coach too.

• Cam Hutchinson