NHL Gambling Scandal
 

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=2322234

I'm not sure how many of you are following this story; thoughts, feelings, etc.?

ETA: I guess the first thing that strikes me are the most recent allegations that Gretzky had his wife placing bets for him. I don't know why, that just strikes me as strange (although it would make sense if he didn't want to get involved himself).

Tocchet is guilty. When I heard Janet Jones was placing bets the first thing I thought was she was probably betting for Gretzky. Jeremy Roenicke was one of the players placing bets. He is a cronic gambler. In his last year with the Flyers he paid almost 100k to betting services for touts.

I don't think they any better than Pete Rose. I wonder what would come out if somebody really investigated athletes the way they went after Pete Rose. Micheal Jordan gambles millions. Jordan is golfing parners with one of the criminals that brought down Rose.

I know Tocchet hasn't been a Penguin in a long time, but talk about bad timing - there is a casino company who will pay for the Pens' new arena if they let them build a casino here also.

I don't really see what the big deal is, they were NOT betting on hockey. So who cares where they spend their money? Its their money.

Tocchet is probably pretty f-ed, too - it sounds like he was bankrolling the whole operation . . . apparently those placing bets don't get in any trouble, but he's probably sinking in shit creek.

Yeah, someone did a big story on how the same mentality that makes a lot of these guys great athletes also contributes to problem gambling - this makes the lack of sympathy for someone like Pete Rose astounding to me.

I hate to see the Gretzky name defaced.

This makes me think about Wayne's World again.

I'm wondering how hard they'll go after Gretzky if they find out he was involved.

Either way, you all are right - Tocchet's in it pretty deep.

I'm thinking (hoping?) there won't be enough evidence to do much of anything. But it'll still be a stain on the legend.

I think a lot may depend on how bold the investigators care to get; if you try to bring someone like Getzky down, you'd better have a whole lot of evidence because of his reputation.

Eh, I think we're way off on this one - according to the Jersey police handling the investigation, there's nothing illegal about placing the bets, it's just facilitating the gambling that is the issue. So Gretzky would never be 'brought down', it would just expose the bets he's made at the worst (and police officials have already indicated none of the bets were on hockey).

http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/topstory/sport...0208_getty.jpg

You talkin to me? Hey! Whatchou lookin at?

My biggest concern? That this "ring" had ties to a mob family. BAD IDEA!

As for gambling, that is their right. They weren't betting on hockey games or themselves.....Free country, remember?

I really hope it doesn't get defaced. IMO, if he wasn't betting on hockey, it shouldn't matter. It's his money.

Most of the accounts I've read of this refer to Janet Jones-Gretzky as a "D List" actress. Ouch!

Not quite. The police later said the investigation is ongoing and the bets may or may not have been on hockey.

Gretzky could still be brougt down. The NHL collective bargaining agreement prohibits betting on hockey. The NHL code of conduct permits legal gambling(casinos) but phohibits illegal gambling on any sport. Even if laws were not broken players could still be punished. At worst, Gretzky would only get slapped on the wrist. . He is too big and the league doest want the bad press. The same thing with Jordan. He used to gamble millions. The NBA never even looked into his gambling. Many people don't know it but Charles Barkley
bet on an NBA(76ers vs NY Knicks) game when he played for the 76ers. He was fined and that was the end of it.


The other big name that hasn't come out is Mario Lemieux is the owner that was placing bets.

Are you serious??? :eek:

Does the standard contract a professional athlete signs prevent him/her from gambling on any sport?

My freshman year, I was a student-athlete (NCAA Division I, in a conference that does not provide athletic scholarships). One of the (many) documents we had to sign was one pledging that we would not bet on ANY sport--including things like horse racing and jai alai that had nothing to do with the individual sport we were playing. I wouldn't be surprised if a standard NHL/NBA/NFL/MLB contract had a similar clause.

Where did you hear that? I personally have been surprised that the other names in the "scandal" have not been released. Plus, I have heard NO mention of Mario.

No. The NHL collective bargaining agreement prhohibits gambling on hockey. The NHL code of conduct allows legal gambling in casinos as long as it is not on hockey and prohibits all illegal gambling.

I didn't take notes but I think it was 610 WIP in Philadelphia. 215-592-0610.


In the original story the NJ State Police even said there was an owner involved. That narrows it down to 1 out of 30. Tocchet played for about 6 or 7 teams of which one was Pittsburgh.

Yeah i played D-1 baseball for a year, they make you sign it because YOURE IN COLLEGE AND YOURE A MINOR WHEN YOU GET THERE. Have some common sense man.

Also, nothing is going to happen to any of these people if they didnt bet on Hockey. You people are acting like all of these people are commiting some mortal sin. The NFL is the only sport that prohibits betting on any sport. No other sport has any rule that you cannot bet on something other than your sport, and thats how it should be. It is every man's own right to gamble his own money if he wants to.

Zippy Zamboni loves hazing hockey boys!

1. The NHL code of conduct permits legal betting on sports other than hockey. The NHL prohibits ILLEGAL betting which is what is being investigated.

2. All we have to do is look at the BIG 10 point shaving scandal of the 90's.( I think there was fraternity involved but that is another story). The basketball players were betting on football with their "own" money. They lost big. When it came time to pay their debts they didn't have the money. Illegal bookmakers don't do credit checks like casinos. The players ended up shaving points to pay their debts.

yeah you are right on the NHL, the gambling ring was illegal.