NHL owners have locked out their players, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get action down on hockey this season. From the Edmonton Journal:
An Antigua-based sports-betting firm has become the first to put odds on the outcome of the National Hockey League lockout, and how it could affect a season scheduled to open Oct. 13.If you’re a betting person, it doesn’t look good.
Odds are 1-3 — meaning you must bet $3 to get a $1 return — the entire 2004-05 season will be wiped out by a labour dispute in which owners seek a salary cap and players are resisting it. Wageronsports.com puts odds the season will start at some point before the regular season concludes on April 10, 2005, at 2-1.
While big-time bettors could stand to cash in on the lockout, provincial governments — the benefactors of Canadian gambling largesse — stand to lose significant amounts of cash should play not begin this season.
NHL wagering makes up just over one third of total sales, and brings in an
$8-million annual profit, for the Western Canada Lottery Corporation, which serves the three Prairie provinces and three territories.
To offset the anticipated loss in revenue, the lottery corporation is introducing a number of other sports and leagues for sports fans to bet on, including U.S. college football and basketball and European soccer
Now, if a baseball player bet on the hockey lockout, would that be considered a violation? It’s not exactly a sporting event. This sounds like just the thing Pete Rose would wager on.
It’s interesting to learn that a management/player dispute over a salary cap in hockey can drastically impact lotteries in Canada.