NHL ace breaks silence over 41-game gambling ban: “It was a little my fault” 

Shane Pinto, forward for the NHL’s Ottawa Senators, has finally shed light on the details behind his lengthy suspension imposed last October for breaching the league’s gambling policy.

The American has revealed that he was slapped with a 41-game ban by the NHL for proxy betting, which means a third party placed bets on his behalf.

At the time, the finer points of Pinto’s suspension were not outlined to the public, but the 23-year-old has since lifted the lid on the saga while speaking to the Empty Netters podcast.

He explained that he was punished for proxy betting on sporting contests, but, as reported at the time, the NHL found no evidence that he had wagered on NHL games, though the Ottawa Sun reported that Pinto’s US online gambling account was the subject of scrutiny after unusual activity was detected.

Pinto claimed: “I had buddies, because I was in Canada, just place bets for me in America.

“I wasn’t a Canadian citizen, so I really couldn’t use a Canadian sportsbook – that’s proxy betting, so that’s obviously a big no-no. It was an illegal act. It was a pretty big deal, so that’s why we didn’t want to fight it and just accepted it.”

He continued by clearing up some of the confusion surrounding whether he was suspended for betting on NHL matches: “A lot of people thought I bet on the NHL, because it was such a long thing. But they said it in their press release, the NHL, that that never happened. So I think that helped the situation a lot.”

While news of his punishment was not made public until late October 2023, Pinto also explained how he was aware of an issue as early as late August, when his agent called him to relay the message that the NHL wanted to question the forward over suspicious betting activity.

Over the course of a three-week period, Pinto spoke to NHL officials twice and remains adamant that he was transparent on both occasions. He was aware of the suspension two days prior to its official announcement on October 26.

Pinto said he is glad to see the back of the controversy, as he declared: “Obviously, it was a little my fault so I’m not going to take any pity over it. It sucked. I’m glad it’s over, but I learned a lot from it, and thank god it’s all behind me.” 

Upon the news of Pinto’s suspension first breaking, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly reaffirmed that the league’s players were well aware of the gambling policy in place, and he wasn’t concerned by the idea that players could be unaware of what falls within the rules.

“We already have a comprehensive education program,” Daly told Legal Sports Report in October 2023. “I suppose we will review what we currently do to see if it can be improved, but I’m not overly concerned that players don’t understand what’s permitted and what’s not.” 

Two years prior to Pinto’s suspension, the NHL investigated San Jose Sharks player Evander Kane over allegations the Canadian wagered on NHL games after claims raised by his now ex-wife, but with the help of data provided by Sportradar, the league found no evidence of wrongdoing.

Pinto’s suspension marks the first time the NHL has banned a player for gambling-related offences since the 1940s.