For many years athletes have been seen to enjoy betting and visiting land-based casinos and online casino Canada. Often this can lead to the temptation of immoral gambling and match fixing, as the history of athletic gambling has revealed.
The link between athletes and gambling goes back many years, such as the case with Ice Hockey player Don Gallinger. In 1948 Gallinger and former team-mate Billy Taylor were discovered gambling on their own teams and banned for life by the NHL. They were reinstated in 1970 but even today this stands as the longest suspensions in the history of NHL.
On February 7, 2006, the Coyotes’ assistant coach Rick Tocchet was charged for operating an illegal New Jersey-based gambling ring. Allegedly bets were taken from NHL players, Janet Gretzky and Coyotes GM Michael Barnett, who confirmed to police he placed a bet on Super Bowl XL with Tocchet. Gretzky always protested his innocence. It was announced on February 16, 2006 that Gretzky would not be charged nor was it likely his wife would be charged. Tocchet brought an end to the case by pleading guilty to the gambling charges on May 2, 2007. Gretzky and Jones were never charged with any wrong-doing, they are still surrounded by the gambling controversy however.
Another common outcome of athletes that gamble is that they are paid to represent a gambling company. Ice Hockey player Roberto Luongo, goalie for the Canucks, has been directly linked with gambling; in September 2011, his poker playing caught the attention of Playnow.com who signed him as the ‘face of’.
According to the lottery corporation, the partnership between PlayNow and Luongo makes sense with his reputation regarding Canadian sports circles and his skills in the game of poker. They said, “He is renowned for being a poker player…he is good. Everyone knows about Roberto Luongo’s poker playing abilities.”
Luongo expressed his excitement surrounding this new business opportunity. He said, “I’ve always enjoyed playing poker and my competitive side is looking forward to practicing my poker skills,” he said. The ice hockey star added in the press release: “The friendly competition of a poker game is one of my favourite hobbies. It’s always been fun to play online and I look forward to testing my poker skills”
