On Nov. 6, professional hockey player Shane Pinto became the first NHL player since the federal legalization of sports gambling to be suspended over matters of betting.

   The 22 year old free agent was suspended following a rather vague announcement from the National Hockey League (NHL), regarding the cause of his suspension. The lack of clarity as to exactly what Pinto did that was wrong has left many fans and media personalities confused and upset.

   According to the NHL public relations social media account, “The NHL announced today that it has suspended Shane Pinto for 41 games for activities relating to sports wagering”.

   However following that statement, the NHL made clear that they had found no explicit pieces of evidence to prove that Pinto had directly bet on an NHL game. Rather, he seemingly was involved with something in the general field of “sports wagering”. Whether that is sharing insider information with friends who would bet on NHL games, or letting a friend use his account to bet on a game, is up for the fans and media to attempt to decipher. This comes as the NHL reports that it will not be sharing any more information about the case whatsoever, no matter if more information is brought to them or not. 

   “The NHL considers this matter closed, absent the emergence of new information,” The NHL public relations team said of the matter.

   This ironically comes soon after the Ottawa Senators chose to become the first NHL team to use the logo of a sports betting organization as the main advertiser on their players helmet.