Canada and the USA faced off in the 4 Nations finale that boosted handles across the nation and added plenty of revenue to the sportsbooks after Canada skated away with a 3-2 overtime victory.
Tournament Success
According to reports, each 4 Nations game had six times the number of wagers as a typical NHL game, while the title tilt between the USA and Canada generated 11 times that average amount. Needless to say, the 4 Nations hockey tournament, which included the USA, Canada, Finland and Sweden, was a rousing success both in terms of viewership and betting numbers.
The championship game between the USA and Canada had all the bad blood one could want after the partisan Montreal crowd booed the USA’s national anthem. Shortly thereafter, it didn’t take long for the players to exchange unpleasantries as three fights erupted within nine seconds of the opening puck drop in the teams’ first meeting.
Naturally, the political rhetoric emanating from newly-elected President Donald Trump and his administration regarding annexing Canada as the 51st state and threatening to impose chilling tariffs on Canadian products has fomented acrimony from America’s northern neighbors. That political rancor was the backdrop to a pair of ferocious games between the two national squads, and people could not get enough of it.
After the USA won the first meeting, 3-1, the Canadians reciprocated with a 3-2 overtime victory in which Conor McDavid tallied the winning goal. The championship belonged to Canada, and it wasn’t long afterward that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau leveled a direct broadside at Trump and the Americans.
“You can’t take our country—and you can’t take our game,” Trudeau posted on social media.
Bang Up Numbers
All the drama created an enormous amount of interest, and the sportsbooks could not have been happier. Many were more than willing to share their elation regarding a tournament that not even the most avid hockey fan would have predicted as a sudden cultural phenomenon.
Caesars‘ head of hockey, Karry Shreeve, stated Caesars took in more than twice as many individual wagers and total amount bet as any NHL game this season. Shreeve also wrote in an email, “A Game 7 atmosphere and style of play is what we anticipated, and it was exactly what we got in every which way. Customers were all over the USA out of the gates, especially when they went down 1-0 and were around +150 to bet on to win.”
“The 4 Nations tournament was a great success for BetMGM,” BetMGM trading manager Halvor Egeland said Friday in an email. “The USA-Canada final was not only the most bet (tickets) hockey event this season but the most bet in BetMGM history.”
“It was incredible,” SuperBook vice president of risk Jeff Sherman said. “The two USA-Canada games were on par with an average NFL game handle. Other games were on par with the average NHL game.”
