NHL Commissioner Feels that Hockey is Not Suited for Gambling

Gary Bettman- commissioner of the NHL feels that professional hockey is simply not the kind of sport that ‘lends itself’ to betting and gambling like the other sporting events do.

The statement comes after the NHL opened a new franchise in Las Vegas a few months back. He said that the center’s success will be dependent on the NHL’s loyal fan base and not just the tourists passing by. In August, the NHL made a second deal with SportRadar, a data company. They specialize in running large volumes of data and doing big data analysis to find out whether or not there is some form of fraud prevalent in the betting scene.

Fantasy sports is another thing; and there is a lot of talk around the country, not just in Las Vegas about whether or not it can be considered gambling. Bettman thinks that fantasy sports and daily fantasy are not something that is strictly gambling as there is a certain element of skill involved.  There are also states that have outright banned DFS and teams from those states are still a part of the DFS network. Companies like Draftkings are still active and have even signed contracts with the Rangers and Blackhawks, they belong to states where DFS is illegal.

NHL walks the line on gambling and Bettman made it clear that only about 1% of the books even focus on NHL. The game is not as betting friendly as football or basketball, according to him. He is of the opinion that the integrity of the game is still intact, so it’s more about the environment in the arena than the actual players. Earlier this year, Bettman was found saying that fans are beginning to focus on their bets over the actual game and that some of them were disappointed when their team won because they lost their bets.