OLG POOLS
Updated By the Ontario.gg Editorial Team
OLG POOLS is a picks game rather than a bet at odds. You call the winner of every matchup on a card, and the tickets with the most correct picks split that card’s prize pool.
A card costs $5, and more if you cover both sides of a matchup. You can play at 18 in a store or 19 online, and both groups share one pool.
- Run by
- OLG, outside the iGO catalogue
- Age
- 18+ in stores, 19+ online
- Cost of a card
- $5 to $80
- Matchups on a card
- Up to 16
- Prize pool
- At least 60% of what is bet on the card
- Smallest prize
- $5.50 a winning ticket
How a POOLS card works
POOLS sits alongside PROLINE in OLG’s app and in stores, so you may see it called PROLINE Pools, but OLG runs it under its own conditions as a distinct game.
Each card lists up to 16 matchups with two possible outcomes, and OLG sets the time it closes. You have to choose an outcome for every matchup on the card; you can’t leave one blank. Auto-Pick fills in your choices at random, online or on a slip built digitally.
A card doesn’t have to be perfect to win. The winning tickets are those with the most correct picks of all tickets on that card, whatever that number turns out to be. That is the main difference from a parlay at PROLINE, where one wrong pick loses the bet.
Online, Player Picks shows how others are choosing on that card. OLG itself warns that a popular pick isn’t a winning one. The printed ticket or the online bet receipt is the only valid record, not the slip you filled in.
Cards on November 3 covered the NFL, NHL, NBA, college basketball and European soccer. OLG can add other sports, and recent cards included NASCAR and college football.
Box Play and what it costs
A Box Play takes both sides of a matchup, and you can box up to four matchups on one card. Every other matchup stays a single pick. Each box doubles both the cost and the combinations you hold:
| Boxed matchups | Cost | Combinations |
|---|---|---|
| None | $5 | 1 |
| One | $10 | 2 |
| Two | $20 | 4 |
| Three | $40 | 8 |
| Four | $80 | 16 |
How POOLS payouts work
The pool for a card is at least 60% of everything bet on that card. OLG can set a different pool for some cards under separate terms it publishes first. The pool is divided equally among the winning tickets, so a sole winner takes all of it and two winners take half each. Prizes are rounded to the nearest ten cents.
With made-up numbers: if $10,000 is bet on a card, the pool is at least $6,000, and four winning tickets would each take at least $1,500. A winning ticket pays at least $5.50. There is no fixed top prize. It depends on the size of the pool and how many tickets share it.
Online, a card shows an estimated pool once it reaches $1,000, as of when the page loaded, so refresh it for a newer number.
POOLS results and winners
OLG’s POOLS page has a Results tab for closed cards, going back 21 days. For each card it shows the number of winners, the best score and the prize share. We don’t reprint those figures here.
- For a store ticket, scan it in the PROLINE app or ask any lottery retailer to scan it.
- For an online bet, Bet History in the PROLINE app shows it as won, lost or void, with your share if it won. A store ticket is its own record.
OLG decides each result itself, working from one or more of Stats Perform, Sportradar, IMG Arena and BetGenius. Protests and overturned decisions don’t change a result, and once OLG has entered one it can’t be appealed. OLG does keep the right to amend a result itself to protect the game’s integrity.
Ties, postponed games and cancelled cards
A matchup that ends tied after regulation time and any overtime counts as correct for both sides. So does one that doesn’t start on its scheduled date, is abandoned too early or is taken off the card. OLG can also treat a game as incomplete if it isn’t finished within 36 hours of its scheduled time, baseball aside.
When a matchup goes that way, every ticket on the card gets it right, so the rest of the card decides who wins.
- Hockey: overtime and shootouts count. An abandoned game stands if five minutes or less of regulation time were left.
- Football and basketball: overtime counts, with the same five-minute test for an abandoned game.
- Baseball: extra innings count. A game needs five full innings to stand, or four and a half if the home team is ahead, and it must start on its scheduled date.
If six or fewer matchups on a card finish, OLG can cancel the card. Your stake comes back and nobody wins a prize.
Buying POOLS in a store or online
In a store you hand over a paper slip, or a barcode saved from the PROLINE app or website, with payment before the card closes. No OLG.ca account is needed. Paper slips offer fewer options than digital ones. OLG’s lottery rules allow a store refund only if the buyer returns the ticket to the same retailer, within 30 minutes of buying it and before the first event’s cut-off that day.
Online you bet through the PROLINE app or website with an OLG.ca account and pay from that account. An online bet is final. You can’t cancel it, get a refund or pass it to anyone else. More on the account itself is in our PROLINE+ review.
Age: 18 in a store, 19 online
The POOLS conditions don’t state an age. They hand store bets to OLG’s lottery rules and online bets to its player agreement. The lottery rules bar anyone under 18 from buying a ticket, validating one or receiving one as a gift. The player agreement sets 19 for pay-to-play games, a group it says includes online sports betting, and it keeps 18 for draw-based lottery games, which POOLS isn’t. OLG’s site footer draws the same line: 18 for in-store sports betting, 19 for online.
Collecting a POOLS prize
Online winnings go only to the registered player. Store tickets follow OLG’s usual route: under $1,000 at a lottery retailer, where the store must pay up to $50, and $1,000 or more through an online claim. OLG’s lottery rules give 12 months from the relevant draw to claim, without saying how that works for a game with no draw.
POOLS or PROLINE?
OLG runs both, and they reward different things. For bets at fixed odds, see PROLINE in stores or PROLINE+ online. For private sites, go to Ontario sports betting.
| Feature | POOLS | PROLINE |
|---|---|---|
| What you pick | The winner of every matchup on a card | 1 to 20 picks of your choice |
| Odds or spreads | None | Yes, and your payout depends on them |
| Stake | $5, up to $80 with four boxes | $1 to $100 a bet |
| What you can win | A share of the card’s pool | Stake times the odds, up to $1,000,000 |
| A tie | Correct for both sides | The pick goes void |
Only the best tickets on a card win anything, so stake only what you can spare. OLG’s number for POOLS questions is 1-800-387-0098. For help with gambling, ConnexOntario answers 1-866-531-2600 at any hour, free. BetGuard bars you from regulated online sites, not from store play.
OLG POOLS questions
Is POOLS the same as PROLINE?
No. Both come from OLG, but POOLS pays a share of a pool to the best tickets on a card, with no odds. PROLINE pays your stake times the odds.
Do I have to get every pick right?
No. The tickets with the most correct picks win, even if nobody gets them all.
How much does a POOLS card cost?
$5, rising to $80 if you box four matchups.
What happens if a game is postponed or ends in a tie?
Both sides of that matchup count as correct.
Can I cancel a POOLS bet?
Not online. A store ticket can only be refunded by the buyer at the same retailer, within 30 minutes and before the first event’s cut-off.
Do I need an account for POOLS?
Not in a store. Online takes an OLG.ca account.
Where are POOLS results posted?
On the Results tab of OLG’s POOLS page and in the PROLINE app. We don’t reprint them here.
Change log
- First version.