The Associated Press reported the National Hockey League has decided to bring their talents to Las Vegas, which came as no surprise to SinBin.vegas considering we had reported this hours after the executive committee met. It does bring up a few questions that need to be answered over the next couple of months.
One is gaming which has never been addressed in this process which is great because to address it would shed light on it as if it was a problem. Unfortunately that still doesn’t prevent the uneducated from flooding social media with their unfounded game fixing comments.
A few years ago, the thought of a professional sports team in Las Vegas would be unheard of, not because anyone at the league offices thought guys like Rick Tockett would be collecting drink tickets and screaming “C’mon three” at the race.., hold on, bad example. It was more because they were scared of the perception that came with publicly accepting Las Vegas into their club when they knew the real issue lurked right outside every NHL arena. Better to attack the devil you know I suppose. All together now, I ask all of you to send in your point shaving, game fixing stories that involve Las Vegas athletes. I’ll wait.
Truth is, the potential of unsavory characters trying to convince Marc-Andre Fleury his concussion may be acting up for the night is nonexistent because of sportsbooks. As long as books exist there is no need for a local bookmaker. Do they exist in Vegas? I’m sure they do, but nothing compared to the 1,000’s of illegal “bookies” that exist on the East Coast.
It’s the guys who give kids parlay cards in a small town in upstate New York who don’t care about the integrity of events or our kids. And no, that wasn’t a made up example.
Nowhere can you find a marriage of two entities (Las Vegas and the NHL) that understands any ‘funny business’ could lead to millions in lost revenue. I’ve said it before but it’s worth repeating, the people of influence in this town want these games to be cleaner than in any other professional sports market.
Thankfully, the NHL has not asked Nevada sports books take the games off the board and they won’t because then Nevada would be quick to point out that the league has seven teams in Canada where you can legally put a few loonies on a parlay card.
For over 15 years betting on our states major universities has been legal and without incident. Pretty impressive considering we’ve seen players from Arizona State, Northwestern, Boston College, and Maryland face suspension because of gambling activities. Notice a certain an non-Las Vegas flavor to that list? Most would think, with a campus just a couple miles away, UNLV athletes would be lined up at MGM ready to miss a few free throws so they could have a little more ‘Old Milwaukee’ money in their shorts. Sorry, not the case because we have something Chestnut Hill bookmakers do not called regulations.
I’ll leave you with this.
In “Sin City” no one can place a wager on sports until they are 21, in the Northeast I knew classmates who wagered on games before they were in their teens because the “local guy” couldn’t care less about the integrity of games or the kids who bet them.
It’s time point the finger at the other 30 targets in the league because it’s been unfairly pointed at Las Vegas for too long.
Daoloth
As a NYer with a background as a PI, only Flawed Fantasy NHL Scoring is a threat to rigging games… For example a guy taking 11 shots on goal giving him 5.5 point when a save is worth .2 or .3 while a blocked shot is worth .5 with a shot on goal being changed from .2 or .3 to .5 like DraftKings did when they legalized cheating… They allowed unlimited entries, flawed scoring making it all bunched up to rig… The worst part is they allowed computers to submit the lineups or scripting… So you had basically robots entering enough teams with inside knowledge to make sure they never lost or nobody else could win…
I know about illegal gambling more than 99% of those living or dead ;)… NHL or hockey is the WORST sport to ever wager on picking a team or an Over/Under. You wont win any cards picking 3 or more NHL teams with them almost always a 1 or 2 point spread… So the favorite has to win by at least 2 goals while the underdog has to win via shootout or OT… Wagering on hockey is only useful for Russians who do live bets… Where you can see a team is down 3 goals that might comeback to win the game for a large payout etc…
Besides the NJ Devils play in a state with legalized Gambling in AC.. Atlantic City is nearly seized for being so bankrupt by the Government :). NHL is below every single pro sports when it comes to betting even college sports basketball and Football… Maybe they are above women pro sports, I don’t see gambling as a danger… IF anything the NHL is the one rigging the games via their calls or other factors. Even the skeptical fans seem to view hockey as the least rigged of the pro sports… There are very shady games like the Flames vs. Kings or recent Fixburgh Stanley Cup which even the merchandise was made knowing Crosby would be handed two awards he didn’t win… If you want to restore integrity get rid of Bettman don’t blame Vegas for gambling though :)…
I’ve won thousands of dollars in Fantasy hockey legally even running keeper leagues for decades before on-line caught on… Knowing ever single player, even the farm systems, I’d say gambling on NHL is only a fools bet… You are better off playing lotto games like Win4 or Numbers… Where you can win 2500K for a 50 cent bet or 5K… Nobody I know who bets or is associated with bookies even takes NHL bets except a few random games near ending of NFL season… Which I’m told almost nobody ever bets on or wins…
Even betting on records or other things I know people do via Vegas isn’t sound for NHL.. Kings win the Cup then can’t even make Post Season only to lose division title on last day of season for example… Smart money was to bet on Ducks over Caps for final game knowing they would rest all their players if could get the odds :). The way they generate values for Fantasy players or positions like listing Toffoli as a Center when he only played wing is the real issue to worry about…