On October 26, 2023, the National Hockey League (NHL) issued a statement that caught almost everyone outside of those affected unawares. The NHL announced it was suspending the Ottawa Senators’ restricted free agent Shane Pinto for forty-one games for “activities related to sports wagering.”[1] Pinto was sitting out of camp without a contract for unrelated reasons. The NHL’s statement went on to clarify that the “League’s investigation found no evidence that Pinto made any wagers on NHL games.”[2] Absent the emergence of new information, the NHL considers the matter closed.
The twenty-two-year-old forward, who put up twenty goals and fifteen assists for Ottawa in eighty-two games last season, is the first player to be disciplined by the NHL for gambling related activities in the age of modern online, legal sports betting. It has not gone unnoticed that Ottawa was the first NHL club to put a gambling sponsor, Bet99, on its helmets. The Senators, who were alerted to the ongoing investigation last month – in the midst of contract negotiations with Pinto – issued a statement reading in part: “the entire organization remains committed to Shane and will work together to do what is necessary to help provide the support to allow him to address his issues and become a strong contributor to our community.”[3] Pinto took responsibility for his actions and issued a brief statement expressing regret, saying, “I want to apologize to the National Hockey League, the Ottawa Senators, my teammates, the fans and 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.”[4]
The details of what, exactly, Pinto did will most likely never be publicly known. What remains puzzling is the length of the suspension coupled with the NHL’s statement that Pinto did not bet on NHL games. The NHL, unlike the NFL which prohibits players from betting on non-NFL sports while at a team facility or on team-related travel, seemingly has no formal, league-wide policy restricting betting on non-NHL games.[5] Article 14.1 in the NHL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement states that players cannot bet on NHL games, but includes no other gambling restrictions.[6] Individual teams may forbid staff, including players, from betting with specific club betting partners based on the language included in those contractual arrangements.
If Shane Pinto did not bet on NHL games, why is he being suspended? What are “activities related to sports wagering?” According to Chris Johnson of The Athletic, NHL teams, players, the NHLPA, and player agents are all struggling to understand what lesson should be learned from this incident.[7] Players already know not to bet on NHL games – and ostensibly that did not occur – so what warranted a half-season suspension? As Johnson details in his piece, Pinto and his camp took the unique step of going through the process of obtaining a negotiated settlement with the NHL, ensuring that the details will never come out, as all parties are prohibited from speaking about any details either on-or-off the record. Pinto waived his right to a hearing with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman under Article 18-A.1 of the CBA.[8] The NHL, given the amount of revenue the League makes from gambling related sponsorships, may have had its own reasons to want to keep the details of Pinto’s transgressions secret. According to sources, it is known that Pinto had connections with a third-party proxy bettor, something that is generally forbidden. It is also known that Pinto’s account with initially flagged by one of the NHL’s betting partners, who turned over information to the NHL.
Shane Pinto’s suspension comes against the backdrop of a larger discussion surrounding the impacts of the recent widespread legalization of sports gambling in the United States and Canada. The NHL, the NHLPA, teams and, by extension, players all benefit financially from the explosion of gambling related sponsorships and advertisements, as do sports television networks in both the United States and Canada. On May 14, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an opinion in Murphy v. NCAA finding the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) unconstitutional for violating the Court’s anti-commandeering jurisprudence inherent in the Tenth Amendment. Following the ruling, states are no longer prohibited from authorizing and regulating sports wagering systems on a state-by-state basis in a manner similar to existing domestic gambling markets. Sports betting is now legal in over thirty states, with the majority of those states allowing online sportsbooks.[10] In Canada, a bill passed Parliament and was signed into law in August 2021 that altered the national criminal code to allow provinces to legalize single-game sports betting.[11] At present, all provinces aside from the Northwest Territories and Nunavat, allow single-game sports betting. Ontario leads the way in terms of the variety of online sportsbooks now operating legally in the province.
Important regulatory and liability issues have arisen from the proliferation of online books. In August 2023, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) updated its standards to “prohibit the use of athletes in internet gaming (igaming) advertising and marketing in Ontario”[12] after the AGCO “identified advertising and marketing approaches that use athletes, as well as celebrities with an appeal to minors, as a potential harm to those under the legal gaming age.”[13] NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman was among those the AGCO consulted in creating the new policy. NHL stars Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid, along with other NHL players, serve as spokesmen for various sports betting companies and stand to lose money. The new policy goes into effect February 28, 2024. Notably, the AGCO did not adopt more extreme proposed measures calling for prohibiting or limiting iGaming advertisements on sports broadcasts.[14]
Shane Pinto is twenty-two, immersed in a culture that is now saturated with sports betting advertisements. While he ought to have known better, it is hard not to acknowledge that his suspension raises questions not only about the larger societal impact of legalized online gaming, but also raises questions about the NHL and the NHLPA’s duty to do more to educate players about league policies and about the dangers of getting sucked into compulsive gambling behaviors. While there is no way to know, at present, what Pinto did and what his motivations were, it is jarring to read about a player being suspended for gambling related activity who was literally wearing an ad for Bet99.
The Senators front office will now have to decide how to negotiate with Pinto going forward, and Pierre Dorion will not be leading the way. The Senators and Dorion mutually parted ways on Wednesday, November 1st, after the NHL said the franchise would be lose a first round pick for their role in a nullified trade involving Evgenii Dadonov.[15] The Senators apparently failed to notify the Vegas Golden Knights that Dadonov had a no-trade clause. The Golden Knights learned of the no-trade clause after the NHL canceled a trade between the Golden Knights and the Anaheim Ducks because the Ducks were on Dadonov’s no-trade list.
The Senators new owner, Michael Andlauer, has expressed annoyance with inheriting both the Pinto and the no trade-clause headaches, insinuating that he was not properly briefed by the league on either situation prior to closing on the sale of the franchise.[16]
It will be interesting to see if the NHL creates any explicit policy on players betting on non-hockey sports in the wake of Pinto’s suspension, or if it would be seen as a retroactive admission that Pinto, either himself or through a proxy, bet on NHL games.
[1] https://media.nhl.com/public/news/17365.
[2] Id.
[3] https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/ottawa-senators/latest-news/shane-pinto-apologizes-after-receiving-41-game-suspension-for-non-nhl-gambling-activities.
[4] Id.
[5] https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/38521972/nfl-toughens-bets-own-team-new-gambling-policy. Players who bet on non-NFL games while at a team facility or on team-related travel face a two-game suspension for the first violation, six games for a second violation and at least one year for a third violation.
[6] https://theathletic.com/5006158/2023/10/27/johnston-shane-pinto-suspension/.
[7] Id.
[8] Id.
[9] Id.
[10] https://www.cbssports.com/general/news/u-s-sports-betting-heres-where-all-50-states-currently-stand-on-legalizing-online-sports-betting-sites/.
[11] https://sportshandle.com/ontario/
[12] https://theathletic.com/5002801/2023/10/26/nhl-gambling-shane-pinto/.
[13] Id.
[14] https://cassels.com/insights/betting-on-the-new-rules-agco-limits-use-of-athletes-influencers-in-igaming-advertising/.
[15] https://theathletic.com/5021465/2023/11/01/pierre-dorion-fired-senators-general-manager/
[16] https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/new-senators-owner-andlauer-looks-to-move-forward-after-rough-stretch/