Senators forward explains what he did to be suspended 41 games

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Liam McCormick
July 18, 2024 (4:49 PM)

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Ottawa Senators forward Shane Pinto has finally revealed what exactly he did to be suspended 41 games last season.

Pinto was a subject of an NHL investigation which resulted in a 41 game suspension from breaking gambling rules - the first the league has ever dished out. On a recent episode of the Empty Netters Podcast, Pinto revealed had friends in the USA place bets for him while he was in Canada.

"I had my buddies - because I was in Canada - just place bets for me in America," he explained during a recent appearance on the "Empty Netters" podcast. "I wasn't a Canadian citizen so I couldn't really use a Canadian sportsbook. ... That's proxy betting, so that's obviously a big no-no. It was an illegal act so, obviously, it was a pretty big deal. So that's why we didn't want to fight (the suspension) and we just kinda accepted it."

When Pinto was suspended for breaking gambling rules, plenty of speculation arose as when any athlete is penalized for this offence, specifically with the question of whether or not he was betting on Hockey. Thankfully that doesn't seem to be the case at all, and this was an honest mistake from Pinto.

The NHL has to strictly abide by their anti-gambling rules with players for obvious reasons, but the rate at which sports has accepted and normalized gambling has made everyone's head spin. Hopefully Pinto learned his lesson from this incident, and other players saw the incident as an example.

Source: Empty Netters Podcast

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JUILLET 18 \| 133 ANSWERS Senators forward explains what he did to be suspended 41 games Do you think it was a fair decision to suspend Pinto 41 games?
Yes, no tolerance for breaking gambling rules	61	45.9 %
No, too harsh	54	40.6 %
See Results	18	13.5 %
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