The NHL suspended unsigned Ottawa Senators centre Shane Pinto for 41 games for violating league gambling rules, multiple sources told Sportsnet.
“The National Hockey League announced today that it has suspended NHL Player Shane Pinto for 41 games for activities relating to sports wagering. The League’s investigation found no evidence that Pinto made any wagers on NHL games. The NHL considers this matter closed, absent the emergence of new information, and will have no further comment.”
This makes Shane Pinto the first NHL player banned for sports gambling since the 1940s. The league said the half-season ban was for “activities relating to sports wagering” and that its investigation found no evidence Pinto bet on NHL games. It did not release other details, including what Pinto did or how he was caught. Pinto was apologetic in all the right ways. In a statement released by the team, Pinto stated:
“I want to apologize to the National Hockey League, the Ottawa Senators, my teammates, the fans the city of Ottawa and most importantly my family, I take full responsibility for my actions and look forward to getting back on the ice with my team.”
In a world where legalized online sports gambling is pushed on fans on sports channels, commercials, and NHL advertising. Ironically, the NHL partners with dozens of gambling sites to increase their hockey-related revenue making it a very profitable partnership for the NHL and the NHLPA.
The NHL has released their statement on Shane Pinto’s suspension pic.twitter.com/jvAoAHQAda
— Petrov McGuire (@McguirePetrov) October 26, 2023
The NHL/NHLPA collective bargaining agreement says that “gambling on any NHL game is prohibited.” NHL teams can go as far as prohibiting employees from hockey operations to the business side from even joining fantasy leagues for money. Only two years ago, the league investigated Evander Kane for gambling after his estranged wife claimed he bet on NHL games, including against his own team. Kane denied those allegations, and an investigation by NHL security found no evidence Kane bet on or tried to throw any games. So now, Pinto faces one of the longest suspensions in NHL history for placing bets, not betting on hockey.
What really saddens me about the Pinto situation is that the league’s primary interest in stopping players from gambling isn’t to protect the integrity of the game for its fans. It’s to protect the integrity of the gambling industry it’s crawled into bed with.
— Paul Campbell (@WayToGoPaul) October 26, 2023
Paul makes a great point, without any information, no one can tell if they’re protecting the NHL’s integrity or their gambling affiliations. Just two years ago, gambling was frowned upon, but not punished just as long as it wasn’t on NHL games. Now, any gambling is suspendable. What makes this different? No one is saying. There’s no information shared, unlike in the Kane situation, which was made public. So unless the league suddenly becomes willing to share information again, the questions will remain.
So now, instead of Pinto holding out for a better contract, as he was all training camp as reported here at Crier Media, he sits out, suspended. But that suspension has no impact on if he gets signed or not. As a group 2 RFA the December 1st deadline does not apply to him as he is not a 10.2c RFA and will remain on Ottawa’s reserve list. Once the suspension ends, Pinto will have not played a game in almost five months. And now, instead of being able to demand over $2 million per season, his contract will be very low, and will likely not be for any longer than the remainder of this season.
