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A number of NFL players have fallen victim to the league’s crackdown on sports betting over the past couple of years, and now, an NHL player has become the first person in the league to get suspended for similar reasons in the form of Senators center Shane Pinto. However, it’s still not entirely clear exactly what he did wrong.
The NHL is just one of the many leagues that have embraced legal sports betting with open arms as the practice has become increasingly normalized across the United States (as well as Canada). Nowadays, it’s virtually impossible to tune in to a hockey game without being treated to a commercial or broadcaster urging you to take advantage of a promo code.
The Ottawa Senators have also gotten in on the action, as the team Pinto has played for since 2021 became the first team to slap a gambling company’s logo on their helmets when they inked a sponsorship deal with Bet99 the same year.
The center is technically unsigned, as he’s a restricted free agent who opted to hold out after failing to agree to a new contract by the time the current season kicked off. However, according to a statement the NHL issued on Wednesday, he won’t have the chance to suit up until the middle of the current campaign after he was hit with a 41-game suspension “for activities relating to sports wagering.”
As of this writing, neither the NHL, Pinto, nor the Senators have revealed exactly what he did to earn the half-season ban. The league noted it didn’t find any evidence that he wagered on NHL games, which is obviously a major no-no but also the only type of gambling that’s explicitly banned under the current collective bargaining agreement (players are free to throw down money on other sports).
SportsNet did provide a bit more insight into the investigation that led to the discipline being doled out, as the outlet reports “a league wagering partner reached out to the NHL because of unusual activity on the account belonging to Pinto” (who issued a statement of his own saying “I take full responsibility for my actions”).
It’s also worth noting the CBA only prohibits players from betting on NHL games, so it does seem like there’s a chance Pinto thought he had free reign to wager on futures bets concerning awards, the winner of the Stanley Cup, or the outcome of individual playoff series.
If that were the case, it’s likely commissioner Gary Bettman would take advantage of his ability to suspend players for conduct deemed “detrimental to the welfare of the league or the game of hockey” while arguing Pinto violated the spirit of the rule in question even if he adhered to the letter.
It’s likely more information will come to light in the near future, so I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.