Canadian MP Brian Masse has written to the NHL Chief Commissioner Gary Bettman, to ask him to reconsider the Leagues position on sports betting.
Masse who represent the electoral district of Windsor West, has urged for the NHL to rethink its position on Canada’s C-290 Bill, which will look to amend sports betting practices throughout Canada.
The C-290 Bill looks to be moved up Canada’s federal agenda for 2015, having received support from both major Canadian political parties and police chiefs who want to curve illegal betting and improve consumer safety. The Bill would allow licensed gambling premises to to take wagers on approved sporting events by Canada’s gambling regulator.
The NHL is Canada’s most watched sports leagues, at present the country currently has seven NHL franchises. Masse has pinpointed that the support of the NHL will be a critical factor to allowing and fast-tracking of sports betting
In 2013 when the Bill was being considered by the Canadian Senate, NHL governance submitted a brief outline stating its opposition to any proposed legislation. The NHL stated that Canadian sports betting would harm the integrity of the game.
Masse has directly challenged the NHL statement with regards to its stance
“The notion that by legalizing and thereby creating a forum for greater direct State control over a largely illegal industry that we are compromising the League somehow is absurd. This naively ignores the reality that single event sports betting is a massive black market in the here and now, estimated by gaming experts to be as much as $40 Billion a year in Canada. Opposing C-290 simply guarantees massive revenues streams to organized crime and an unfair Las Vegas monopoly”.