Most hockey podcasts have a betting partner as a sponsor.
The Sens have BET99 as their helmet sponsor. And those ads? Well, they star prominent figures in hockey like Wayne Gretzky and Auston Matthews telling you that their platform offers the best odds, the best payouts, and the most generous terms. If you watch a game on TV, the broadcast brings you the evolving in-game odds during stoppages in play, whole intermission segments are dedicated gambling, and, anecdotally, it sure feels like half the ads during every commercial break are for sportsbetting. It's impossible to avoid hearing about sports betting in the NHL today. 'You look at a young man who’s making millions of dollars and represents millions of people in a community, but is 21 years old, you know? Let’s say they’re injured and they’ve got time on their hands, and they’ve got millions of dollars and they’ve got a cellphone, and Wayne Gretzky gets on and MGM and talks about betting.' – Michael Andlauer on Shane Pinto's suspension for gambling-related activities. Looking at the law changes that brought us sports betting ads everywhere-and the near-certain downsides Photo by Heather Gill / Unsplash
