The NHL embracing sports gambling was a major mistake

[Slats432]

Lmao, make your damn choice without shoving the odds during the broadcast, go on your favourite gambling app then, whatever you want. keep it off the telecast.
I don’t give a Fk if Boston scored , so here is the new updated odds on them winning, scoring 5 goals etc

It’s literally terrible now.

So are we talking about the watchability or the gambling part of it? Like I said if enough people oppose it and don't watch, they will make changes, but there is certainly a lot of people that don't want ads because some people can't control their gambling.

 

[SirJW]

Coffee is hot warnings are cya, no lawsuits.

 

[Golden_Jet]

So are we talking about the watchability or the gambling part of it? Like I said if enough people oppose it and don't watch, they will make changes, but there is certainly a lot of people that don't want ads because some people can't control their gambling.

Most don’t want it shoved down their throats, as opposed to what someone they don’t know. does. They care about how it’s ruined the game broadcast.

 

[Slats432]

Coffee is hot warnings are cya,no lawsuits.

Because a judge awarded an old lady a bunch because she spilled hot coffee on herself. If the judge says, you have to be careful because coffee is hot, and it isn't the restaurant's responsibility to warn you not to be stupid.

Most don’t want it shoved down their throats, as opposed to what someone they don’t know. does. They care about how it’s ruined the game broadcast.

And if enough people don't like it, it will change.

 

[Ugene Magic]

Gambling is the devil. All the ads, promotion during the game along with the TV/Radio commentators doing betting parlays and such is pure predatory actions.

This, if it continues, will push me away from the sport. My father was a gambling addict, and I saw all its forms of deteriorating his life. The monthly/weekly checks wasted, gone. I despise it that much to walk away from the game.

It ranks higher than equipment advertising which will also push me away if the jerseys and such even remotely get saturated.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Because a judge awarded an old lady a bunch because she spilled hot coffee on herself. If the judge says, you have to be careful because coffee is hot, and it isn't the restaurant's responsibility to warn you not to be stupid.


And if enough people don't like it, it will change.

The league doesn’t care what fans think.
Bettman has endlessly said, our fans don’t care about X, when in fact it’s the opposite.
It’s not changing now, Pandora’s box is opened. I’d love it to change but it won’t, it would lower the cap if they got rid of it, so there would be pushback now.

I’m not interested in your straw man coffee take.

 

[Voight]

Honestly ever since it became legal across the board I've barely bet on sports. It was somewhat fun before when it was on a. smaller scale and only a handful of people I knew did it. Now it's plastered all over the place, over commercialized and you have kids talking about it.

It's also created a whole new form of predatory behaviour with the thousands of "gambling experts" that will give you "locks" for a fee. People are getting suckered into these types of deals (yes some guys actually give picks that work, but those are few & far in-between).

 

[Slats432]

The league doesn’t care what fans think.
Bettman has endlessly said, our fans don’t care about X, when in fact it’s the opposite.
It’s not changing now, Pandora’s box is opened. I’d love it to change but it won’t, it would lower the cap if they got rid of it, so there would be pushback now.

I’m not interested in your straw man coffee take.

No straw man here. Law of supply and demand. If the gambling industry is the big monster people say it is, like cigarettes, then with enough pushback, changes occur. But you go ahead and live in your gloomy hypothesis.

 

[Golden_Jet]

No straw man here. Law of supply and demand. If the gambling industry is the big monster people say it is, like cigarettes, then with enough pushback, that hap occur. But you go ahead and live in your gloomy hypothesis.

No it’s all straw man, you just can’t see the forest through the trees.
Comparing any of you’re straw man’s to something that happens now every few minutes in a game, is entertaining though.

 

[Slats432]

No it’s all straw man, you just can’t see the forest through the trees.
Comparing any of you’re straw man’s to something that happens now every few minutes in a game, is entertaining though.

Yep, all is lost, betting is here forever.

This HF post brought to you by..

 

[Ugene Magic]

Here's two people who don't need the money, but are part of the problem pushing gambling in the NHL.

Totally selling out the game for money they don't need.
No morals, I can't hate them anymore than I do now.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Here's two people who don't need the money, but are part of the problem pushing gambling in the NHL.

Totally selling out the game for money they don't need.
No morals, I can't hate them anymore than I do now.

Ontario has now limited how many times a game they can use players on an ad.
Maybe other states/ provinces can do the same.
Having said that, the ad change hasn’t affected me, as PVR game and start 40 minutes late, to jump over commercials.

Hasn’t changed the in game mess though, gambling has done.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

Chicken little is on the other side. The sky is falling because the NHL has ads for betting. So does TSN on every broadcast. So does the NBA.

My son who is 22 does a little wagering. I say remember, gamblers lose more than they win. Do it for fun, and don't gamble more than you are willing to throw away.

The world wants choices made for them because they don't want to do stupid things. When I was young, we were taught, don't do stupid things. People want inhibitors in place to protect them from themselves. (I remember when the first "Caution Coffee is Hot" label was put on a cup)

If people want to turn off the TV because there are too many gambling ads, no problem here, that is their choice, but some of us like the ability to make our choices.

Most people here are talking about gambling ads in the NHL. The only one saying the sky is falling is you.

 

[SniperHF]

You can't ban sports gambling to idiot proof the world,

While far from eliminating it entirely, all this stuff was effectively illegal not all that long ago and there was way less of it. Prohibitions do work and as long as there isn't catastrophic externalities like alcohol prohibition, it's fine.

I lean libertine on matters of "sin" but society has to be ready to handle it not just kick off an olly olly oxen free like we did on sports gambling.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

Because a judge awarded an old lady a bunch because she spilled hot coffee on herself. If the judge says, you have to be careful because coffee is hot, and it isn't the restaurant's responsibility to warn you not to be stupid.


And if enough people don't like it, it will change.

If you're referring to the infamous McDonald's lawsuit, you should read up on what actually happened because you're citing an often repeated myth. You're parroting exactly what McDonald's wanted you to.

Here's a recap:

•The "old lady" admitted that the spill was her fault.
•Her issue was that the coffee was so hot, well beyond normal serving temperatures, that she suffered third degree burns on her legs and genitals the required extensive surgery.
•McDonald's served coffee at 190 degrees F. Coffee at that temperature causes 3rd degree burns in 3 to 7 seconds.
•The plaintiff didn't want to go to court. She wanted McDonald's to pay her medical expenses estimated at $20,000.
•McDonald's offered her $800.
•She obtained a lawyer, who offered to settle for $300,000. A mediator suggested $225,000. McDonald's rejected both offers.
•The jury (not judge) decided using comparative negligence that though the coffee has a warning, a reasonable person does not expect it to be a cup of near-boiling water, so they found McDonald's mostly responsible for the incident.
•The jury felt that McDonald's behavior was so dangerous and egregious that to send McDonald's a message, they recommended awarding the defendant $2.9 million.
•$200k was for compensatory damages, $2.7 million was punitive, a number they arrived at as an estimated two days of McDonald's coffee revenues.
•The plaintiff later settled for somewhere under $600,000.
•McDonald's reduced the temperature it serves coffee.

 

[Slats432]

If you're referring to the infamous McDonald's lawsuit, you should read up on what actually happened because you're citing an often repeated myth. You're parroting exactly what McDonald's wanted you to.

Putting hot coffee between your knees because your Ford Probe doesn't have cup holders is not a good look. And if the testimony I read is correct, the largest complaint was that McDonald's coffee was hotter than most. None of which would predicate "Coffee is hot" warning, rather just serving coffee at the same temps as other establishments.

 

[Slats432]

Most people here are talking about gambling ads in the NHL. The only one saying the sky is falling is you.

Yes, and they are saying that gambling ads should be taken off because someone might get addicted to gambling. I am saying that people want inhibitors to protect them from their own stupidity. I am not saying the sky is falling. I am saying people should take some responsibility for their actions.

 

[Neil Racki]

With individual freedom and choice .. comes individual responsibility and accountability.

Since Im an alcoholic .. should everyone be banned from drinking at games?

Im a former cigarette smoker .. should people be banned from smoking a cigarette outside a bar?

Each man is responsible for himself and his decisions.

Give me a world of choices, and I will choose what and how I want to go about my life.

 

[The Marquis]

Not gambling has made me considerably wealthy. I know people who gamble and make way more money than I do but have little to no disposable income. You never come out on top in the end unless you quit when you hit the top and nobody does.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Yes, and they are saying that gambling ads should be taken off because someone might get addicted to gambling. I am saying that people want inhibitors to protect them from their own stupidity. I am not saying the sky is falling. I am saying people should take some responsibility for their actions.

No
Most are saying, if they want to advertise during a commercial break, then fine.

Remove it from being discussed from in-game broadcasts, and having tickers on bottom of screen showing live odds, is what everyone wants.

 

[Maple Leaf]

Not gambling has made me considerably wealthy. I know people who gamble and make way more money than I do but have little to no disposable income. You never come out on top in the end unless you quit when you hit the top and nobody does.

Gabmeblers dont undertand probabiity funnt=y

 

[BraveCanadian]

Goes back to who has the responsibility. Does playing Fortnite make kids want to shoot people? Does a beer ad make you drink, or skip the dishes some beer?

Today's society puts all the blame on everyone else, rather than take ownership of your own choices.

Which conveniently leaves out the fact that psychologists, economists and marketers have learned how to nudge people towards making choices to the benefit of the advertisers (or other outcomes).

They can put their hand on the scale of some of our decisions at times.

The real world is not a black and white place all the time where everything is simple common sense and pulling ourselves up by the bootstraps.. there are a lot of grey areas.

 

[Leafshater67]

Isn’t that the problem? That people who buy drugs don’t know what they are getting. They think they are getting something like crack only to find out it’s been mixed with fentanyl.

I suppose but either way they’re getting highway. Gamblers only get the high if they win. Both are highly addictive and have ruined many peoples lives but one is now normalized and forced on us every moment we watch sports.

… this post was brought to you by draft kings. Bet on sports now or you’re not cool. Wayne Gretzky does it.

 

[zar]

Society, as a whole, is finding new lows every single day. Social media is the huge cause of this.

Gambling is just a small factor in the societies eventual demise.

Humans, in general, are are just becoming shittier living things everyday.

 

[tarheelhockey]

I know all this. I live in a country where gambling has been a thing all my life. When I was in high school my friends and I would look at the odds for Champions League games in the windows of bookies and laugh at how unlikely some of them were. Betting is a regular storyline on TV shows, compared to "oh I'll phone my guy, wink wink" in American television.

Since about the start of the 2010s the growth of betting and bookmakers has been constant, and although some curbs have started coming in over the past few years (limits on FOBTs, gambling sponsors not being on the front of shirts) it's still pretty ubiquitous as a concept.

I spent a year or two as a vbookie mod on here, on a betting site nearly every day looking at odds to use for events I created on here.

I've still never spent a penny on real life gambling outside of lottery tickets. I do think the presence of it at the expense of actual game coverage in NHL broadcasts is too high, but I can still ignore it because I'm not interested in it. It existing doesn't mean I have to be interested in it.

It doesn’t really matter that A person can turn off their TV and find something else to do. That’s just an anecdote about one guy who has vices other than gambling.

The issue is that these companies are systematically influencing entire demographics, at a level where individual choice is not a relevant factor. If that weren’t true, the ads would not exist.

The way these sales campaigns are being rolled out does not resemble traditional advertising, like running a time-limited commercial or putting a logo in a visible location. These gambling campaigns are closer to social engineering, such that the audience passively becomes acclimated to a wagering mentality without having an active choice in the matter. It’s a different beast and it does not resemble the ads you remember from high school.

Also, even for those of us who are more resistant to gambling in general, it’s just an obnoxious takeover of the gameday product. It’s degrading the experience of being an NHL fan, as virtually everyone in this thread is quite openly attesting.