When it comes to gambling on major sports events, ranging from final scores to “prop bets” based on individual player performances, the NHL is currently whistling past the graveyard.
With the NBA, Major League Baseball, and Ultimate Fighting Championship (and more) currently enduring major corruption scandals, the NHL has buried its head in the sand, hoping no one will notice.
But it’s hard not to notice, what with the seemingly endless parade of paid-for gambling messages seen on various NHL broadcasts — most notably the high-profile Hockey Night in Canada show, featuring host Ron MacLean as he delivers his pro-gambling huckster speech.
Even without MacLean’s shameless plugs, the show fully embraces new revenue streams built on separating fans from their own money.
A 2024 review of sports-betting exposure during Hockey Night in Canada broadcasts found that fans are hit with hundreds of gambling-related messages — from commercials and logos to on-screen odds — during a typical three-hour game.
Major operators dominate the scene: Sports Interaction, OLG’s Proline+, BetMGM, FanDuel, theScore Bet, and Bet99 all hold partnerships with the NHL, its players, or its broadcasters. In Ontario’s open-market system, more than 60 licensed sportsbooks now advertise nationally, pushing gambling content to roughly one-fifth of total broadcast time, according to industry and media analyses. (Source: compiled from publicly available reports and studies cited in Google Search, 2024.)
Game-fixing isn’t new — but the flood of modern “prop bets” has changed the game entirely. These situation bets often hinge on a single player’s performance — a scenario much easier to manipulate.
Examples include:
• A player taking a minor penalty in the first period.
• Winning or losing a specific faceoff.
• Recording (or not recording) a single shot on goal.
• Blocking a certain number of shots.
• Reaching (or missing) an over/under total for assists or hits in a single game, or even during a portion of the game.
It’s not as if hockey has been immune from the temptations of gambling up until now. As these two examples make clear, the threat has always existed…then and now:
The Shane Pinto Wake-Up Call (2023)
When Ottawa’s Shane Pinto was slapped with a 41-game suspension in 2023, it wasn’t for betting on hockey — but it might as well have been a warning shot to every player in the league. The NHL said Pinto didn’t wager on NHL games, yet a proxy-betting connection to an online betting account was enough to drop the hammer. In today’s world where sportsbooks sponsor everything from power plays to pre-game shows, the league’s message was clear: gamble all you want on the NFL or the ponies, but cross the blurry line around hockey and you’ll pay for it.
The Babe Pratt Lesson (1946)
Long before smartphones and sportsbook apps, Babe Pratt of the Toronto Maple Leafs got himself in hot water for something as simple as a few casual bets on NHL games. It was 1946, the post-war Leafs were kings of the ice, and Pratt was their smooth-skating blue-liner — until the league tossed him out indefinitely for gambling. He came clean, apologized, and was reinstated before season’s end, but the message echoed through generations: in a league built on trust and tradition, the moment you mix hockey and betting, the ice gets very thin.
So, is it already too late to turn back the clock on legalized sports gambling? With the windfall profits pouring in, and major league teams desperate for new revenue streams, it would seem the answer is yes.
Governments should, at the very least, move quickly to outlaw prop bets — declaring any wager not tied to a game’s final score illegal and subject to significant penalties, including jail terms—society’s ultimate penalty box.
Some may argue that the recently revealed scandals listed above suggest that current regulations are already working. After all, they did identify the shady bad guys. But that doesn’t stop fair-minded fans — or conspiracy theorists — from believing the fix is always in. The day that happens, the future of these leagues could very well be in doubt. In other words, all bets would be off.
Would such rigid enforcement bring an end to future scandals? Probably not. But it’s one thing to persuade a single athlete to alter a play; quite another to convince an entire team to throw a game.
We may not post a shutout, but the number of shots on goal would be greatly reduced.
