Bruh, there is a major difference between a gambling addiction and gambling insider information that's used to help fix games.

They're not even remotely close.

Gambling addiction is closer to Evander Kane gambling so much that he accrued over $20M in debt. That is a heavy mental health issue.

Conversely, helping to fix gaming bets or gambling on your own league isn't a mental health issue. It's premeditated fraud.

If he attempted to help "fix" the outcome of games, he'd be suspended for life. I don't think it was anything like that.

It's possible it was a third-party better as someone else claimed (I hadn't heard that), or that he provided non-public information to someone in order to give them an unfair advantage in placing their bet. The league has only said that there is no evidence that he bet on NHL games and intends to make no further comment.

Okay, but why is never a franchise player doing this? Or are they just picking on lower tier players to give the illusion that this is s clean leagues.

I think it is a stupid rule. I think half a season is way way way too much. There are a lot of rules. We all break rules on occasions. Speed, walking over the road when it is red light etc. I feel like gambling is that type of rule.
But beating someone unconscious or run someone over with a car, how ever sudden and maybe not entirely planned, is way way more serious felony in my book.

Corporatism in a nutshell:

Bedard's a Blackhawk. It's illegal for the NHL to punish him for anything.

We all break rules at times. For me injuring someone where we ment to or not is like running someone over with car, especially when our decision making led to the severity of the situation. That should be harder punishment for that than driving car without insurance (which I think gambling is like in severity) if to compare.

I never said he was trying to *fix* outcomes of games. I said that he was helping to fix bets by giving insider information.

But I'm not certain of the details either.

My overarching point was that it doesn't constitute a mental health issue if that's the case, and nothing that's been said publicly so far gives the impression that it's a gambling addiction related incident.

No not towards Ottawa. I don't care that it happened to Pinto or Ottawa. It never happens to a big name player. That is suspicious.

The 2 most indicative things I've seen reported are that there was a third party involved and that the investigation came as a result of the sportsbook reporting suspicious activity with HIS ACCOUNT. Based on that, the best I can guess is maybe he was using someone to sign into his account and place bets from another location to get around local state betting restrictions. It'd look suspicious if he had a game in LA while placing a bet from Ohio. It's highly speculative but it seems more likely than him giving out insider info given what's been reported and the length of suspension (I think it'd be longer if he did the latter)

harsh punishments for gambling are usually because it poses a conflict of interest rather than anything to do with act itself. for instance, evander kane spending all his money at casinos is entirely his decision, but if the accusations ended up being true that he was betting on NHL games, especially ones where he would be playing so he could influence the outcome, would warrant punishment.

with pinto it doesn't sound like this is the case so we'll have to wait and see if any specifics are brought to light.

"but why is never a franchise player doing this?"

I don't know what this means. Most "franchise players" know better and stay far far away from NHL gambling.

Maybe you are right. But I still think it is a harsh punishment. And let's just play with the thought that they found out McDavid did too. Do you think they go public with that? Being so much about the NHL brand.
That wouldn't make sense if you ask me?

It's hard to tell, I assume there's more here that we don't know. 41 games for betting could be understandable but it seems to have not been on NHL games in which case what did he do that warrants a suspension?

Yes. If McDavid was caught gambling on NHL games, I think he would be suspended as well.

Wayne Gretzky is pretty much the perpetual face of the NHL, and his family got caught up in a gambling ring a decade or so ago that was widely reported.

After his career I assume because I don't remember him getting suspension due to gambling or anything else as active player.

After their active career they can get in trouble, of course.

Hey Pinto - get a bookie and pay w/ ca$h kid! It's what good pros do; sheesh.

If they want to make sure the sport is clean then they wouldn't plaster ads for gambling, segments on pre game shows devoted to gambling

True. Definitely hypocrisy.