Before we get into the following story- I hear things. I hear that Mrs. Wayne Gretzky had a thriving spa business that she let go down the shitter because she refused to cover it with $1200 monthy insurance payments. Hmmm. Did the money go to gambling instead?
WWW- A good gambler should have been able to figure these odds: A celebrity as big as Mrs. Wayne Gretzky betting large amounts with illegal bookies has at least an even-money chance of being embarassed.
“For somebody who’s high-level or very well-known, to me it’s just remarkably dumb,” says Dave Cokin, a professional gambler and a Las Vegas sports talk show host. “Especially in New Jersey. They always bust some big bookmaking ring right around the Super Bowl. Can’t the Gretzkys afford a computer? They have this offshore sports betting thing now – looks like it’s here to stay. What are they thinking?”
But Janet Jones is not a good gambler, apparently. When she decided to bet on sporting events – she says she did not place them for her husband – she went to the recently exposed betting ring run by Phoenix Coyotes assistant coach Rick Tocchet that also involves two New Jersey state troopers. Her husband, long an untouchable god in his sport and his country, has been forced to declare his innocence just as he steps into the international spotlight of the Olympic Games.
After downplaying his knowledge of the scandal, the Newark Star-Ledger reported he was caught on tape discussing his wife’s betting with Tocchet.
All of this agony for the Gretzkys and the NHL might have been avoided had Janet Jones and the unnamed NHL players so far implicated placed their bets via a laptop or a legal casino sportsbook instead of a criminal enterprise. The issue with gambling on any sport isn’t just the wagering itself, Cokin and several law enforcement officials say, but its proximity to people who might damage the sport.
“Hockey would be incredibly easy to fix,” says a recently retired FBI agent who worked organized crime for most of his career. “I’d have to think it’s the easiest sport there is for that. Think how many times a guy puts a shot into the stands when he’s shooting on goal. Nothing looks fishy about it.”
That said, the former FBI agent, speaking on the condition of anonymity, says he has never heard of an NHL game being fixed. More likely, he says, if an athlete were compromised, it would be in a far more insidious way.
“They want access,” the agent says of bookies. “They want to know about injuries and everything else when they set that number (the betting line), because that’s how they make their money.”
If an athlete got in deep enough, experts say, he or she could be blackmailed into doing the unthinkable, although Cokin says it’s hard to imagine any celebrity or athlete having to throw a game in the modern era.
“Now, I’d say it’s next to impossible. They make so much money,” he says. “You’ve got to be the world’s worst bettor to get in that much trouble that you have to sell your soul to get even.”
Cokin agrees that it’s more likely an athlete or someone close to an athlete who loses a lot of money would be pressed for inside information. The real problem, he says, is the pervasiveness of illegal gambling. Cokin is an ardent advocate of legalizing sports gambling, comparing the current scenario to Prohibition.
“It becomes almost impossible to fix a game if it’s all done above board because everything’s monitored,” Cokin says of legalized gambling. “People are going to bet no matter what.”
Placing a bet in New Jersey is legal, as long as no one is profiting from the wager. If someone bets $100 with a friend, no law has been broken. If they use a third party, however, who takes a piece of that, then the third party is an illegal bookmaker. Janet Jones and the six players have not been accused of breaking the law, only Tocchet and State Trooper James Harney (the second trooper, Sgt. Michael Kaiser, was reportedly suspended because he knew about the ring but did nothing) face charges so far.
While the criminal investigation continues, the NHL has started its own probe, hiring former U.S. Attorney Robert J. Cleary, the lead prosecutor on the Unabomber case and now a partner at Proskauer Rose in New York.
“The one assurance I’ve been able to give (comissioner Gary Bettman) is that we have seen absolutely no evidence and we have absolutely no other information to suggest there was betting on hockey or that the integrity of the game was compromised in any way,” Cleary told AP yesterday.
Hockey hasn’t had a gambling scandal since 1948, when commissioner Clarence Campbell handed lifetime suspensions to the Rangers’ Billy Taylor and the Bruins’ Don Gallinger, although that did not come close to capturing the public’s imagination like the 1919 Black Sox scandal or the seemingly never-ending Pete Rose saga.
The NHL might not be as attuned to the issue as baseball, but hockey players say they know the rules.
“As players, we’ve got to accept some of the responsibility of making our own decisions,” Devils forward John Madden said. “I think (the league does) plenty.”
Each season, Bettman’s office dispatches security personnel to speak to every club. The visits feature different themes – finances, credit card fraud, “anything that’s not good for you,” one Devil says – but they also cover gambling. The league has official rules governing gambling, but, as is often pointed out, there’s no specific wording that forbids betting on sports other than hockey.
There is an indirect mention of gambling in the standard player’s contract, and the commissioner has the power to discipline any NHL player for “conduct detrimental to the league or the game of hockey.”
NCAA Tournament pools are as common in the NHL as they are in most any office or any sport, however. There are no rules condemning “game-winning goal” pools, as players in years past were known to take part in when a new teammate would face his former team. And the rules certainly don’t say anything about what a player’s wife may or may not do.
“We’re not kids,” Devils goalie Martin Brodeur says. “At least we’re informed of the possibilities.”
The players admit that while scandals involving game-fixing seem farfetched to them, the prospect of becoming linked to shady characters is not. In fact, Brodeur says, some of the people players really have to watch out for are the ones who have money.
“They’re able to get close to you to a certain extent because they’re able to get to dinners and they’re able to get to places that you’re able to get to,” he says. “So sometimes you build a relationship, and sometimes it’s hard to say no. You get in a situation, and it’s not easy. A guy is like, ‘You want to play golf? You want to play golf?’ And the next thing you know, you’re associated with the guy.
“So when we go through these security meetings, these are the things they tell you. You’ve got to try to say no. You’ve got to avoid it as much as you can. Sometimes it’s hard to do.”
But as the Tocchet scandal suggests, some players either can’t resist or don’t want to. “Your acquaintances are the most important thing,” Brodeur says. “If you’re surrounded with good people, the odds are you’re going to be okay. It’s on a personal level – who you want to be with, what type of life you want to live. If you want to risk it, maybe nothing’s going to happen to you.
“Now these guys,” he says, referring to those involved in the Tocchet case, “are paying the price.”
You wanna bet?
A look at the betting policy of the four major sports plus the PGA & Nascar:
NBA
FROM NBA CONSTITUTION
Any Player who, directly or indirectly, wagers money or anything of value on the outcome of any game played by a team in the league operated by the Association shall, on being charged with such wagering, be given an opportunity to answer such charges after due notice, and the decision of the Commissioner shall be final, binding and conclusive and unappealable. The penalty for such offense shall be within the absolute and sole discretion of the Commissioner and may include a fine, suspension, expulsion and/or perpetual disqualification from further association with the Association or any of its members.
NFL
Players can be suspended and/or fined for:
1. Accepting a bribe or agreeing to throw or fix a game or illegally influence its outcome.
2. Failing to promptly report any bribe offer or any attempt to throw or fix a game or to illegally influence its outcome.
3. Betting on any NFL game.
4. Associating with gamblers or with gambling activities in a manner tending to bring discredit to the NFL.
MLB
Rule 21 – MISCONDUCT
(d) BETTING ON BALL GAMES. Any player, umpire, or club official or employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has no duty to perform shall be declared ineligible for one year. Any player, umpire, or club or league official or employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has a duty to perform shall be declared permanently ineligible.
NHL
From Collective Bargaining Agreement
Exhibit 14: Form of Standard Club Rules
2. Gambling on any National Hockey League game is prohibited.
PGA
Section VI-B of Player Handbook:
A player shall not do any of the following:
1. Fail to give his best efforts in competition.
2. Gamble or play cards on the premises where a PGA Tour cosponsored or coordinated tournament is being played.
3. Associate with or have dealings with persons whose activities, including gambling, might reflect adversely upon the integrity of the game of golf.
4. Bet money or anything of value on a golf tournament or similar event, whether or not the player is in such competition.
NASCAR
Gambling isn’t specifically prohibited by NASCAR, but officials can punish drivers for “conduct detrimental” to racing.
All bets are off when it comes to the NFL:
He’s a recently retired long-time NFL player who saw and heard just about everything during his career – except players placing bets with bookies. The threat of getting thrown out of the league has been a huge deterrent.
“I don’t think any NFL players gamble, not unless there is something I don’t know about,” he said. “No one ever talked about it. The hockey thing is an anomaly. This is why everybody in the NFL is scared out of their minds about gambling: You do crack cocaine and you are suspended for a few weeks. You do steroids two times and you can get back in. “You can do a lot of things and get back in the game. You gamble and you are out of the league. That is pretty much the message.”
The league’s policy prohibits players from betting on any NFL game, even in Las Vegas, where it is legal, or “associating with gamblers or with gambling activities in a manner tending to bring discredit to the game.” That includes illegally betting on any sports event. Players are also discouraged from betting on any non-NFL sports event in Las Vegas.
The NFL has been determined to protect the integrity of its game. The concern is if a player owes a lot of money to a bookie, even if he’s betting on non-NFL games, he can be influenced to give up information or do something performance-related to affect the outcome of an NFL game.
In every locker room, the NFL posts its anti-gambling rules. They’re emphasized in training camp meetings with league security. And they states that “accepting a bribe or agreeing to throw or fix a game or illegally influence its outcome,” is prohibited.
The NFL has not had to deal with a gambling scandal involving one of its players since Art Schlichter in the ’80s. Jeff Pash, the NFL’s executive vice president, said there’s no current gambling investigation involving NFL players. “The best posture for the NFL is a clear-cut separation between football on the one hand and gambling on the other,” he said. “We try to preserve that separation.”
Pash said players have been warned about the risk of identity theft and fraud that “can go hand-in-hand with that kind of activity . . . (Gambling) is illegal in many places, so a player involved in that kind of activity could face criminal charges, have tax problems, certainly a negative from the standpoint of what we are trying to promote.”
One current NFL veteran said, “I’ve never heard any talk in our locker room, I’ve never even overheard anyone say in the locker room, that, “I got a bet on the Lakers.”
The retired player said the most he’s witnessed is players making bets with each other on college games between their alma maters. “Guys don’t even respect those bets,” he said. “They don’t pay up.”