Just because the Canadian government frowns on sports betting, it doesn’t mean you can’t lay a couple of bucks on your favorite team. Online gambling with offshore books falls in a legal grey area in the Great White North but bettors can indulge in their hobby by simply going to their local corner store and filling out a sheet of paper.

Though they go by many different names—Sports Action in B.C., Pro Line in Nova Scotia and Ontario, Sports Select in Alberta and Mise-O-Jeu in Quebec—the concept is the same; legalized sports betting.

Sports Action sees its lines set by a committee of four people and they set lines by consensus using a variety of different methods. Alison Lester, a sports analyst for the B.C. Lottery Corporation, elaborated on the methods.

“Basically we consult the Vegas numbers, there are as many as six of us sitting around the table, we examine all kinds of stats, standings, injury reports and stuff like that,” Lester said. “We use the Vegas number as our guide depending what the sport is. For hockey we pretty much come up with our own numbers, but for basketball and baseball we use the Vegas number as a pretty good guide.”

Lines are set twice a week and that can pose problems on occasion. Most sportsbooks adjust lines daily, so if there is a major injury they can either adjust the line or take games off the board. Though the lottery doesn’t set daily lines there are safeguards in place so that bettors don’t take advantage of a sudden injury or developments that can impact the line.

“We have the ability to shut down a game if we feel that a line we put out there is wonky for some reason,” explained Lester.

The corporation has software which can track how much action a given team gets. If too many bettors are laying down money on a particular team, the BCLC will know about it.

“[The software] is an internal thing we use and it monitors our sales and I can look at it on my desktop computer,” Lester said. “When a warning flag comes up, I have the ability to increase the levels if I feel comfortable, or if I don’t I can shut down the game.”

There is no such thing as a sure bet in sports and the last six months have had its fair share of upsets — Oilers over Sharks in the NHL playoffs, Steelers over Colts in NFL playoffs — so which sport is easiest to set lines for?

“They’re all hard,” said Lester with a laugh. “I don’t think there’s an easy answer for that, baseball’s so dependent on the pitchers, basketball is so dependent on the star, hockey is much more of a team game, they’re all very different.”

Ask any sportsbook what Americans spend a majority of their bankroll on, and they will give you the same answer, football. American football is a big draw for sports bettors in Canada as well, but it isn’t the betting game of choice.

The sport that sees the most action, according to Lester, is not surprising. “It’s hockey followed by NFL football,” she said. “Hockey is definitely king in this market for sure.”

Variety is the spice of life and Sports Action bettors have their choice of a variety of games.

The five types of games that bettors can lay money on are:

Oddset: Players bet on the outcome—home win, visitor win, tie—of 2-6 games and take home the cash if they guess correctly on all their games.

Pools: Total money bet is put together in a pool. Players make their picks from all the games on the menu and take home or share the cash with the most correct picks.

Over/Under: Just like total bets offered by Vegas sportsbooks, players bet on whether the total amount of points scored by both teams in the game will be over or under the set line.

Point Spread: Players can select 2-12 games and win when the teams they select not only win, but win by covering the point spread set by the province’s oddsmakers.

Toto: Players select from a menu of 13 games and choose whether teams will win or tie, with multiple predictions for at least two of the 13. Correctly pick 11-13 games and you win.

Bettors can play online as well.

Always looking to expand their game menu, the BCLC could very well offer the types of bets that Vegas books offer. When queried about if they would consider offering prop and futures bets, Lester sounded hopeful.

“We’d like to expand,” the sports analyst said. “There’s nothing concrete right now but we’re always looking at different sports, different ways to play — we want to stay competitive with the other corporations and the offshore places.”