Junior hockey betting uncovered
Canada’s Junior A commissioners surprised to find their leagues listed on Internet sites
By Brian Bowman
The Daily Graphic
Monday December 04, 2006
Most people watched this past weekend’s Manitoba Junior Hockey League games for the fast-paced action.
Others may have been taking in the games for a different type of action -- placing bets.
Online gambling website Pinnacle Sportsbook > Online Sports Betting and Wagers, a fully licensed sports book founded in 1998 and based on the island of Curacao, located off the west coast of Venezuela, offers wagering on various leagues within Canadian Junior A Hockey League -- including MJHL.
The discovery has created shockwaves among those who run Junior A leagues across the country.
MJHL commissioner Kim Davis admitted he was unaware of the betting offered on the league he oversees when contacted by The Daily Graphic on Friday. He elected to digest the information over the weekend before commenting on the recent findings yesterday.
“Our league does not condone that sort of act and it is unfortunate our games are offered for sale,” said Davis. “We don’t know if wagers are being made, but we do know they are available. That much we have established. We are very much against it, but it’s a reality. I’m surprised, for sure. It is one of those things you don’t expect.”
British Columbia Junior Hockey League commissioner John Grisdale was appalled when he was directed to the website on the computer in his office in Burnaby, B.C., on Friday. He said he would definitely bring up the topic at the CJAHL semi-annual meeting on Dec. 14 in Vernon, B.C.
“It is disconcerting to the league and our position is we are 100 per cent against it,” said Grisdale, who played a combined 250 games as a defenceman for Toronto Maple Leafs and Vancou-ver Canucks from 1972-79.
“It is something we are vehemently against, and I’m caught a bit by surprise. We are dealing with some players who are 16 years old. I’m flabbergasted.”
Portage Terriers head coach and director of hockey operations Blake Spiller said he wanted to be careful with his comments on the matter. He admitted, however, he was “surprised you can bet on amateur sports.”
Bets can also be placed for Ontario Hockey League, Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and several junior and professional hockey leagues in the United States on the website.
The site offers gambling on National Hockey League, National Football League, Major League Baseball and an assortment of other sporting events.
It is unknown when CJAHL league games became available for wagers as several e-mail requests to the website for a comment went unanswered.
Offshore betting sites have become a haven for sports books in the past decade due to their light approach to regulation. It is estimated to be a billion-dollar business with approximately 2,300 gaming sites worldwide.
Still, it is illegal to place a bet with a sports book on a sporting event in Canada and the United States. Despite that, a similar site, www. sportsinteraction.com, operates here in Canada.
Sportsinteraction.com is based in Kahnawake, Que., and has been in operation since 1997. It does not, however, have any Canadian junior hockey games listed on its site.
When contacted, an operator informed The Daily Graphic all spokesmen were away for the weekend.
Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League president Laury Ryan admitted the junior leagues might not have a legal right to challenge offshore gambling sites from offering wagers on his league’s games.
“It’s a common problem, not just with hockey,” said Ryan. “We are an open fodder for offshore betting and gambling and there is no recourse. To my knowledge, there is nothing we can do.”
Western Canada Lott-eries Corporation (WCLC) spokesman John Matheson said his organization has no interest in offering wagering options for any junior hockey league games played in Canada.
WCLC is authorized to manage and conduct lotteries within the territorial rights of Manitoba, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Yukon and Northwest Ter-ritories, as well as Nunavut.
It currently offers wagering options from NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL, as well as Canadian Football League, Profes-sional Golf Association, U.S. college basketball and football, European and international soccer.
“We clearly do not have any interests in offering this type of wagering,” said Matheson.
But the fact CJAHL games are being offered as a wagering option clearly leads the way to potentially undermine the integrity of Junior A hockey, as has been shown at the professional level of sports in the past.
Pete Rose is equally as famous for betting on major league games while manager of Cincinnati Reds during the 1980s as he is for his record 4,192 hits during his more than two decades of playing time.
Rose voluntarily agreed to be banned from baseball for life in a deal with former commissioner Bart Giamatti.
But the man nicknamed “Charlie Hustle” during his playing career vehemently denied the allegations in public for years before coming clean in his 2004 autobiography, My Prison Without Bars.
More recently, Rick Tocchet, a former NHL player and currently on indefinite leave as an assistant coach with NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes, was named last Feb. 6 as part of a three-man gambling ring based in New Jersey.
The group was accused of taking in more than 1,000 wagers totaling $1.7 million U.S. on professional sporting events, and Tocchet is still awaiting trial on charges of promoting gambling, money laundering and conspiracy in New Jersey.
The two other men allegedly involved in the gambling ring with Tocchet have already pleaded guilty to the charges facing them and have agreed to co-operate with authorities in their case against Tocchet.
One of those who allegedly placed bets through Tocchet was actress Janet Jones-Gretzky, wife of NHL legend and current Coyotes head coach Wayne Gretzky.
There were also approximately half a dozen NHL players who allegedly placed bets, but not on hockey.
Davis said MJHL introduced several bylaws in 2003, one in which forbids any player or coach from the league in wagering on MJHL games.
If found guilty of such an offence, Davis said the penalty would include the possible suspension or even termination of a franchise.
“Regardless of the existence of this website, the facts remain it could happen somewhere in our league,” said Davis.
“Our constitution does not allow or permit wagering on clubs participating on our league.”
Portage Daily Graphic, Portage la Prairie, MB
Canada’s Junior A commissioners surprised to find their leagues listed on Internet sites
By Brian Bowman
The Daily Graphic
Monday December 04, 2006
Most people watched this past weekend’s Manitoba Junior Hockey League games for the fast-paced action.
Others may have been taking in the games for a different type of action -- placing bets.
Online gambling website Pinnacle Sportsbook > Online Sports Betting and Wagers, a fully licensed sports book founded in 1998 and based on the island of Curacao, located off the west coast of Venezuela, offers wagering on various leagues within Canadian Junior A Hockey League -- including MJHL.
The discovery has created shockwaves among those who run Junior A leagues across the country.
MJHL commissioner Kim Davis admitted he was unaware of the betting offered on the league he oversees when contacted by The Daily Graphic on Friday. He elected to digest the information over the weekend before commenting on the recent findings yesterday.
“Our league does not condone that sort of act and it is unfortunate our games are offered for sale,” said Davis. “We don’t know if wagers are being made, but we do know they are available. That much we have established. We are very much against it, but it’s a reality. I’m surprised, for sure. It is one of those things you don’t expect.”
British Columbia Junior Hockey League commissioner John Grisdale was appalled when he was directed to the website on the computer in his office in Burnaby, B.C., on Friday. He said he would definitely bring up the topic at the CJAHL semi-annual meeting on Dec. 14 in Vernon, B.C.
“It is disconcerting to the league and our position is we are 100 per cent against it,” said Grisdale, who played a combined 250 games as a defenceman for Toronto Maple Leafs and Vancou-ver Canucks from 1972-79.
“It is something we are vehemently against, and I’m caught a bit by surprise. We are dealing with some players who are 16 years old. I’m flabbergasted.”
Portage Terriers head coach and director of hockey operations Blake Spiller said he wanted to be careful with his comments on the matter. He admitted, however, he was “surprised you can bet on amateur sports.”
Bets can also be placed for Ontario Hockey League, Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and several junior and professional hockey leagues in the United States on the website.
The site offers gambling on National Hockey League, National Football League, Major League Baseball and an assortment of other sporting events.
It is unknown when CJAHL league games became available for wagers as several e-mail requests to the website for a comment went unanswered.
Offshore betting sites have become a haven for sports books in the past decade due to their light approach to regulation. It is estimated to be a billion-dollar business with approximately 2,300 gaming sites worldwide.
Still, it is illegal to place a bet with a sports book on a sporting event in Canada and the United States. Despite that, a similar site, www. sportsinteraction.com, operates here in Canada.
Sportsinteraction.com is based in Kahnawake, Que., and has been in operation since 1997. It does not, however, have any Canadian junior hockey games listed on its site.
When contacted, an operator informed The Daily Graphic all spokesmen were away for the weekend.
Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League president Laury Ryan admitted the junior leagues might not have a legal right to challenge offshore gambling sites from offering wagers on his league’s games.
“It’s a common problem, not just with hockey,” said Ryan. “We are an open fodder for offshore betting and gambling and there is no recourse. To my knowledge, there is nothing we can do.”
Western Canada Lott-eries Corporation (WCLC) spokesman John Matheson said his organization has no interest in offering wagering options for any junior hockey league games played in Canada.
WCLC is authorized to manage and conduct lotteries within the territorial rights of Manitoba, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Yukon and Northwest Ter-ritories, as well as Nunavut.
It currently offers wagering options from NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL, as well as Canadian Football League, Profes-sional Golf Association, U.S. college basketball and football, European and international soccer.
“We clearly do not have any interests in offering this type of wagering,” said Matheson.
But the fact CJAHL games are being offered as a wagering option clearly leads the way to potentially undermine the integrity of Junior A hockey, as has been shown at the professional level of sports in the past.
Pete Rose is equally as famous for betting on major league games while manager of Cincinnati Reds during the 1980s as he is for his record 4,192 hits during his more than two decades of playing time.
Rose voluntarily agreed to be banned from baseball for life in a deal with former commissioner Bart Giamatti.
But the man nicknamed “Charlie Hustle” during his playing career vehemently denied the allegations in public for years before coming clean in his 2004 autobiography, My Prison Without Bars.
More recently, Rick Tocchet, a former NHL player and currently on indefinite leave as an assistant coach with NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes, was named last Feb. 6 as part of a three-man gambling ring based in New Jersey.
The group was accused of taking in more than 1,000 wagers totaling $1.7 million U.S. on professional sporting events, and Tocchet is still awaiting trial on charges of promoting gambling, money laundering and conspiracy in New Jersey.
The two other men allegedly involved in the gambling ring with Tocchet have already pleaded guilty to the charges facing them and have agreed to co-operate with authorities in their case against Tocchet.
One of those who allegedly placed bets through Tocchet was actress Janet Jones-Gretzky, wife of NHL legend and current Coyotes head coach Wayne Gretzky.
There were also approximately half a dozen NHL players who allegedly placed bets, but not on hockey.
Davis said MJHL introduced several bylaws in 2003, one in which forbids any player or coach from the league in wagering on MJHL games.
If found guilty of such an offence, Davis said the penalty would include the possible suspension or even termination of a franchise.
“Regardless of the existence of this website, the facts remain it could happen somewhere in our league,” said Davis.
“Our constitution does not allow or permit wagering on clubs participating on our league.”
Portage Daily Graphic, Portage la Prairie, MB
