The NHL embracing sports gambling was a major mistake

[Honour Over Glory]

All sports having a hard on for gambling is a mistake. Then when these players in all sports have an issue partaking in it, each sport acts like they're wrong.

Every f***ing ad for every sport had some over under bullshit and gambling ad during the broadcast. It's shoved down your throat all game and then during ads and then they wonder why it's a problem now?

You dangle that carrot all day and then make it more alluring and someone is gonna bite.

 

[Heffyhoof]

Gambling/Fantasy sports shows talk WAY more about the X's and O's, strategy, and performance of the games themselves than shows like Sportscenter that have just been gossip and sob stories for at least the last 15 years.

Which one are you, Larry, Curly, or Moe?

 

[Honour Over Glory]

It’s ruined broadcasts of the game.

"This game is brought to you by Donkey Bets, here's Troy Aikman with today's odds"...

 

[Matty Sundin]

Betting on games is one thing but being able to bet on what team a player will sign with opens can of worms for insiders just doing their jobs.

 

[Mike C]

Gambling is stupid and the new idiot tax for this generation. The bombardment of advertisement and now accessibility everywhere is predatory and exactly what tobacco and alcohol companies did.

All that being said, the league would take money from just about any company willing to give it to them and individuals have a personal responsibility to not do stupid things.

As much as I want gambling ads gone, you also can’t idiot proof the world.

I was screaming at Omar Moreno in 1981 for dropping a fly ball thus costing me my 25 bucks to Phil the bookie

Robert Plant same era "Nobody's Fault but Mine"

 

[Mike C]

I’m fine with the gambling but for the NHL to blatantly push it every chance they get is dumb and annoying. Then they suspend a player for doing what they encourage, etc.

Just a joke of a league, as always, and why hockey will always be a bush league sport compared to others.

College Basketball says Hi

Check out the episode on Netflix Bad Sport on Stevin Smith and the Arizona St. point shaving scandal

 

[Mike C]

I feel bad for people who ruin their lives with their addiction, or families that are destroyed by compulsive gambling

I don’t really have any sympathy for players or reporters who know the rules and decide to break them anyway, and then have to face the consequences.

Fair point! Did Marek know the rule or was just blindly big shotting Intel to his buddy?

 

[Poppy Whoa Sonnet]

I don't watch sports with my kids cause of the gambling ads. Giving every American access to a casino in their pocket has probably ruined multiple families. The entire thing is disgusting and shameless. Another example of a culture degrading and embracing vice in the quest for profits and cheap thrills in the place of genuine achievement.

 

[Mike C]

The Marek gambling angle is being completely overblown. Most markets are closed well before the draft actually starts. No one is going to be offering "who will be the 5th pick" while the 4th pick is happening, presumably when Marek would've got his info. And if any offshore was doing it that recklessly, the limits would be incredibly tiny and no real money would be made.

The other moral pontification could basically be applied to alcohol as well, I prefer a more free society that allows people to make their own choices and live with the consequences but there will always be those who advocate for prohibition.

Gotta find the happy medium and consequences have to be enforced. Many a drunk driver who causes vehicular homicide skate away on the thin ice of a new day

Many a point shaver feel 20k a game in mob money is worth a year or two in a country club "jail"

 

[CanadienShark]

It's the equivalent of YouTube turning into "make sure to like and subscribe." Except much worse. It's annoying and obnoxious, but we just have to live with it now.

 

[MadLuke]

Insiders don't leak information. They rely on people working for the league or NHL clubs to leak information to them and then report on it... and if those leakers are found out, their employers terminate their employment. Leakers proliferate because it's hard to prove who leakers are, in large part because the Constitution protects media sources and reporters from revealing their sources.

Here, Marek was working for the league as a broadcast partner and getting privileged information from the league for the purposes of putting on a good television product. Then he leaked it to a media pal - not the general public, but to one individual, which triggered alarm bells and got Nevada law enforcement involved. Marek got his broadcast partner and his media hats mixed up.

Gambling is a pox on the game, but that's not why Marek was fired. He got fired for being a leaker, and leaking has always had consequences if your employer finds out that you did it.

You are not an insider if you need to rely on insiders for information, you are just a journalist with sources.

In the context of information and leaks, an "insider" refers to an individual who has access to confidential or sensitive information within an organization or entity. This person is typically an employee, contractor, or partner who, due to their position, has access to proprietary or classified information not available to the general public.

Only insiders can leak information and here Marek if he was working for the league make him an insider and if he told anyone privileged information he leaked them.

 

[Turin]

Hurts the integrity of the game + hurts the integrity of the watching experience. I would never put my families money in the hands of a hockey game and people pushing others to do so are being unethical.

 

[Mrfenn92]

All sports leagues whore themselves out. This was gonna happen as soon as local and state governments wanted in on gambling sites.

Money wins in the end regardless.

 

[I Hate Blake Coleman]

Blame Kevin Waugh, a dipshit former sports reporter (it's always the sports journalists too, those dumb f***s) from CTV working for the CPC that allowed this

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

League doesn't care about anything except making money. They'll sell their souls if it means more money in their pockets.

And the league follows what’s legal, and what’s legal is decided by money..

Capitalism sucks ass. But more specifically- yes, letting greedy companies take advantage of cheap dopamine hits was f***ing dumb. And now every other ad wants me to drink the kool-aid, get a free $50 kool-aid prize pick when you sign up. I wouldn’t care so much, but it seems to consume the sport. Like OP said, it’s become far too much of a story/concern, but money gonna money.

 

[tucker3434]

Gambling is something that should be quietly permitted but not promoted. The league itself shouldn’t be directly involved nor should it be on broadcasts.

Everybody gets on their high horse when somebody gets busted gambling. It’s hypocritical.

 

[Johnny Rifle]

The sad thing is that the more the NHL embraces gambling the more money they make, so any pushback from long-time fans will get ignored in favor of the quick buck.

The league made a huge mistake allowing the proliferation of the gambling ads and integration into the broadcasts. If you want to bet on the game, fine, if tv networks want to dedicate shows to betting lines or expert picks, have at it. Just leave the game speak for itself.

Not to derail the thread entirely, but I find it absolutely hilarious that TV broadcasts bombard us with ads for beer, liquor and erectile dysfunction pills that are pretty explicit, start too late to finish before any teenager's bedtime and encourage gambling at every stoppage; yet is too concerned with it's "family-friendly" image that they panic whenever on-ice audio picks up a curse word.

 

[awegrzyn]

Sports Gambling is for those who can't do math.

 

[3074326]

They like the ad revenue. Gambling companies just happen to be who is paying them the most.

I don’t really think the ads have increased the amount of gamblers much. Source: I work at a casino with a soortsbook (we also have an online presence). Always the same people, every single day. Big events bring people in. Otherwise, every day is exactly the same.

I could be wrong. Definitely anecdotal. Big sports town though.

 

[SupremeTeam16]

Guess it depends on who you ask. I’m sure the league and owners are loving it.

It was inevitable with the degradation of the socioeconomic situation in Canada and the US. People are becoming increasingly desperate and gambling offers the lure of the possibility of getting rich quick.

 

[Ryuji Yamazaki]

They promote alcohol, should they stop that too?

 

[tarheelhockey]

I totally agree with OP. I had misgivings about this from the start and it turned out to be worse than I would have expected.

It’s one thing to be indirectly involved in corruption and addiction by e.g. taking sponsorships from beer companies. It’s another thing entirely to be the active vehicle of addiction and corruption which infects the league itself.

 

[strattonius]

Biggest thing for me is the corruption that can follow gambling and sports. If you're old enough you saw it ruin boxing.

 

[Butt Ox]

Those involved should be giving to charity as atonement.

 

[Deadpool8812]

The NHL sees it as an easy way to make more money. They don't care about the addicting aspect of it as long as they can make some extra coin.

I think the most annoying part about it is how move they shove it in our faces.
90% of commercials are gambling platform related.