The NBA has overcome an aversion to gambling in Ontario and will allow basketball games on the Pro-Line sports lottery after two decades on the bench.

Putting professional hoops back in play at the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation is expected to boost Pro-Line sales, netting an extra $5 million to $10 million annually for the province’s taxpayers.

“Coming off NBA all-star 2016 in Toronto and the Raptors’ most successful season in franchise history, the popularity of the NBA in Canada is at an all-time high,” Greg McKenzie, OLG’s chief operating officer, said in a statement Friday.

Sports fans can wager on regular season NBA games starting Oct. 25.

The Raptors host the Detroit Pistons the next day before moving on to a rematch of last year’s dramatic Eastern Conference final with the champion Cleveland Cavaliers.

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NBA concerns about ties to gambling in Ontario date back to the years leading up to the Raptors’ first game in 1995, with the league’s refusal to allow the franchise if pro basketball wagering remained on Pro-Line.

At first, the province was unwilling to bench the betting on NBA games, which put millions into provincial coffers.

It took months of sensitive negotiations to work through the issue, with Ontario acknowledging the new team would boost the local economy with increased tax revenue and the creation of thousands of jobs. To offset the lost wagering revenue, the Raptors agreed to support youth and community basketball.

In addition, the NBA donated $1.5 million to medical research, provided $2 million in television time to promote tourism in the province, joined with the Raptors in creating a charitable foundation, and agreed to hold the 1995 draft in Toronto.

But, after years of back-and-forth, there has been a rebound in the NBA’s concerns about gambling.

“Since then the NBA has modified its stance providing it’s legal, regulated and monitored,” said Ontario Lottery and Gaming spokesman Tony Bitonti.

The NBA commissioner confirmed support for legalized sports betting.

“The NBA supports legalized sports betting provided the integrity of the game is protected under a regulatory framework,” said NBA commissioner Adam Silver. “The addition of our games on OLG’s Pro-Line is consistent with the NBA being included in the other Canadian provincial lotteries.”

Pro-Line sales totalled almost $294 million last year, with pro football the most popular sport at $86.3 million.

It was followed by baseball at $68.6 million, hockey at $63.4 million, U.S. college basketball at $37.8 million, soccer at $25.2 million and U.S. college football at $11.5 million.

Of the $294 million in revenues, $187 million — or 63 per cent — was paid out to gamblers, with the rest covering the lottery corporation’s expenses and contributing to the bottom line.

Bitonti said lottery officials estimate NBA games will boost Pro-Line’s gross revenues by $20 million to $40 million annually, with about one-quarter of that becoming part of the corporation’s annual payout of roughly $2 billion to the province to help pay for hospitals and other services.

The NBA has been loosening its stance on gambling in recent years, while the lottery corporation has been looking to increase revenues as casino proceeds have declined.

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In 2014, the league signed a sponsorship agreement with FanDuel, a website where fans can bet on fantasy sports. Around the same time, Silver wrote an op-ed piece in the New York Times saying it was time to consider legalized sports gambling.

“There is an obvious appetite among sports fans for a safe and legal way to wager on professional sporting events,” he wrote.

“I believe that sports betting should be brought out of the underground and into the sunlight where it can be appropriately monitored and regulated.”

In 2009, the NFL gave teams permission to sign licensing deals with state-sponsored lotteries.

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