The National Hockey League, along with the NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball and the NCAA have a full-court press going as we speak to block governments both here in the United States and in Canada from legalizing, or in some cases just relaxing the rules around, gambling on sports.
In the U.S., the State of New Jersey is the main front as governor Chris Christie looks to help create a new revenue stream for Atlantic City casinos. And in Canada, Bill C-290 need only pass one more vote in the Senate to make it legal for government-run gaming outfits to offer single-game sports betting (as opposed to parlays, which are already offered here).
The leagues’ main argument is that allowing betting of any kind is a threat to the integrity of their sports.
So when I was checking scores at NHL.com the other day, this jumped out at me.
I don’t know enough about internet advertising to know whether or not the ad from Manitoba Lotteries is something the league would have known about and approved, or if it’s some kind of plug-in.
If it was approved, it sure reeks of hypocrisy in light of the document you’re about to read below. If not, the optics of having a sportsbetting ad over game scores for a league that eschews such activities is somewhat problematic.
Here’s how the league officially feels about sports gambling, in the form of a letter submitted to the Canadian senate committee studying C-290.
The following is all for-your-information type stuff.
Here’s what the NBA told the committee (fun takeaways from the letter: Betting over/unders hollows out the communal bonds of sport, and you can’t bet on basketball in Ontario – presumably because of the Raptors).
Next up, the National Football League.
The NCAA goes so far as to hold future Canada-based events hostage over the vote.
And finally, here’s what Toronto Blue Jays president Paul Beeston had to say about it.
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