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Some gambling scandals have dominated sports news headlines in recent weeks and months.
On Tuesday, long ago NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman addressed this topic in an extensive interview. The league recently entered into a partnership with leading forecast market platforms Kalshi and Polymarket.
Bettman argued that harmony between prediction markets and sports betting gives the NHL greater control and, ultimately, more power to “cancel any contracts that we deem inappropriate.”
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NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman speaks to the media before the game between the Edmonton Oilers and Ottawa Senators at the Canadian Tire Centre. (Mark DeRosier/Imagn Images)
While no current NHL players or coaches have been implicated in the recent scandals that have rocked the NBA and MLB, Bettman believes major professional hockey has the ability to avoid similar problems.
“I don't believe our game is as vulnerable as some others… you can't get away with cheating like that again,” Bettman. told CNBC.
At the beginning of November, Cleveland Guardians pitchers Luis Ortiz and All-Star pitcher Emmanuel Clase have been targeted and charged in the alleged scheme.
Emmanuel Claes (left) and Luis Ortiz were charged in a federal gambling investigation on November 9, 2025. (IMAGN)
The pitchers are charged with wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to influence athletic competition through bribery and money laundering. Both pitchers have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The NBA was also rocked last month by a wide-ranging betting investigation. On October 23, dozens of people associated with the league were arrested, including the current head coach.
Despite Bettman's assertion that the league he oversees is currently unconstrained in its potential gambling problems, a look back reveals the complex history the league and betting share.
NHL logos can be seen on the windows of the Delta Center on April 19, 2024 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Chris Gardner/Getty Images)
In 2003, Jaromir Jagr reflected on the decisions he made that led to losses of up to $500,000 on bets on an online gambling site. Jagr spent more than a quarter century in the NHL, playing for nine clubs. He last appeared in an NHL game with the Calgary Flames during the 2017-18 season.
Despite admitting his mistakes, Jagr insisted that he was not involved in illegal gambling activities.
“It was 1998 and I made mistakes,” Jagr, international Washington Capitals at the time, reporters were told. “I just wasn't smart. It was stupid. It wasn't illegal, and that was five years ago. Everything was taken care of in 1999. That's all I can tell you.”
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Decades before Jagr took to the ice, Don Gallinger found himself at the center of a high-profile gambling scandal. The NHL suspended Gallinger indefinitely in 1948 after an investigation found that he had bet on Boston Bruins games. Billy Taylor, Gallinger's teammate at the time, also received punishment.
Fox News' Ryan Gaydos contributed to this report.
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