The NHL's partnership with Las Vegas has been fascinating. Five years ago, the league discouraged its new expansion team to adopt a gambling name. Now, NHL players are shooting pucks on The Strip at blackjack-inspired All-Star Skills Competition.
It has been quite the ride!
I attended the “NHL 21 in 22” event on Thursday nightThe NHL held a pair of outdoor skills competitions in Vegas. The second was an accuracy competition at the Bellagio fountains. Here, players shot pucks onto various platforms that imitated a rink and the water crashing around them.
This was Thursday night. The NHL All-Star Skills Competition took place at T-Mobile Arena Friday night. The NHL pre-taped 2 events the night before the live broadcast. They aired them in the time between the events at T-Mobile Arena, as the ice was being resurfaced.
The NHL kept the secret well. Fans who came out to see the players on Thursday believed they were practising or did not know that the winners were there. Dallas StarsForward Joe PavelskiThe “blackjack” shootout Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Zach WerenskiIn the “Fountain Faceoff.”
The league kept this secret so well, that even some sportsbooks didn’t know that the events had been pre-taped. They allowed wagering to be made on Fridays, up until just a few hours before they started the arena competition.
The bets were then cancelled without any indication from the gamblers.
Bodog Canada, and Sports Interaction, a Canadian sportsbook, offered bets on outdoor events. Bodog had Pavelski at +475 in order to win the “21-in-22” event. Sports Interaction had Pavelski as +274, but Werenski as +551 to win fountain event. They tied Jocelyn Lamoureux Davidson (ex-U.S. women’s national team star) for longest odds.
The pre-taped events were continuing to be recorded by the books as of Friday afternoon. This continued until approximately 4 p.m. ET for the 7:15 p.m. ET skills competition. Two hours prior to the show, bettors started receiving error messages stating that their wagers were “later or post-wager” and they were refunded their money.
Although the results were not made public on social media, enough people witnessed the events to suggest that some bettors might have seen the winners. Lee Hamilton from Calgary was not privy to this information. Hamilton took a $1 flyer on Pavelski at Bodog +475. He stated that he was disappointed and told ESPN. “It felt unfair towards the bettors.”
Bodog Canada contacted me about the refunded stakes.
“We are able to confirm that these bets were voided as it was pre-recorded. It stated in a statement that if information that would determine the outcome of a wager is made public or becomes known prior to placing a wager, such wagers will be voided in accordance with industry practice.
Sports Interaction confirmed the cancellation of the wagers when it found out that the event had been pre-taped.
Sports Interaction acknowledged that this was an unusual, one-off event. However, they do have a policy to deal with this type of anomaly. “Bets may still be placed up until the event's official start time. Sports Interaction may cancel any bets that are inadvertently accepted after the betting has ended.
These skills competitions are not offered by every sportsbook. Caesars Sportsbook allowed bets on indoor competitions, such as the All-Star Game or the Hardest Shot, Save Streak, Shooting Precision, and the Fastest Skater. Even so, the All-Star skill events could only be bet on.
“We wanted to ensure that wagering on contests was approved by the NHL as we are an official partner in sports betting. We didn’t hear back from the league until Friday afternoon so we didn’t have much time to post the contests anywhere,” Adam Pullen (assistant director of trading at Caesars Sportsbook), said. “We could only offer them to Nevada. They did manage to generate a small handle. It was not bad for a short notice.”
Pullen stated that Caesars books many events that aren’t shown on TV. We do our best to book events with the most precise starting times. Pullen stated that there have been occasions in the past when something was over but we weren't aware of it.
I sympathize fully with bettors who may have been smartened up by the results and seen an opportunity to profit. Hamilton was one of my favorite bettors, and I sympathize. Shouldn't bets placed before Thursday's event be honored?
According to what I have heard, the NHL was not aware that these skill events were being bet on by sportsbooks. It's a tribute to how tightly they kept this secret.
Strive for the Gold
The preliminary round games of the Beijing Olympic men’s hockey tournament begin Wednesday. The task of determining the top contenders for the gold is more challenging since the NHL won't be attending the Winter Games.
In the book that offers gold medal odds, the Russian Olympic Committee is the favorite. Caesars, Draft Kings, and Sports Interaction both have them at +150 prior to the tournament's start, while Sports Interaction has them at +140.
It is reasonable to assume they will challenge for gold. After opening as a 7 to 4 favorite, the Olympic Athletes of Russia won gold in the 2018 Olympics. The ROC roster consists mainly of former NHL players. Slava Voynov, Mikhail Grigorenko, Artem Anisimov Nikita Gusev. They will be very good.
There can be unexpected outcomes! You should also consider that Germany, the winner of silver in PyeongChang was a 66-1 choice according to pre-tournament odds.
Caesars has the current odds of 2022 Olympic hockey for men.
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ROC +150
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Finland +450
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Canada +500
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Sweden +500
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Czech Republic +700
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USA +1.100
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Switzerland +2,000
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Germany +2,200
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Slovakia +5,000
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Latvia +6,600
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Demark +6,600
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China +20,000
That's right. You could wager $100 on China winning the Beijing Games gold medal. This would bring you more than $20,000. Believe in miracles?
Those are some intriguing odds for Americans, You should also keep in mind that they have 15 NCAA athletes on their roster. This will either result in fast, energetic play or a “not readyfor primetime” sweep in the preliminary rounds. It is unlikely that the U.S. will win. Canada is a good value at +500. They also have an offensive pop up front, including former NHL stars Eric StaalAs captain and as a goalie (Devon Levi), who is able to steal games.
While the ROC is my favourite, I don’t think it’s nearly as solid as the last time.
The U.S. is a 665 favorite over China in the preliminary round opener, which took place on February 10. They are -115 on their puck line, which is set to -2.5 goals.
Trend or trick
Toronto and the 1st Period Over
Here's an absolute Trend. Chris Otto, Analyst notes thatThe Maple Leafs are now 15-2 in 17 games that have been played on the first-period goal (1.5 goals) and they hit it 88.2% of time. This streak of seven consecutive first-period wins has fueled this streak. Toronto is second in Florida with 53 goals scored in the first period.
Florida and the over
With their tie with the Panthers, the Panthers were a hot topic at the NHL's All-Star Media Day Colorado AvalancheAt 4.09, they are the highest-scoring team on the goals per-game charts. They have reached the over in five out of six of their games, including seven goals in an eight-game win over the Blue Jackets. They are currently at 61.7% and it is not likely that they will stop this trend soon. This is especially because their team save percentage of.910 now ranks 12th among the NHL. Trend.
Boston and the puck line
Normally, a Boston team losing 10 games in a row would be enough to light up WEEI for one week. But this one is more subtle – unless you've recently bet the Bruins on their puck line, in which case… yikes! In its 10 last games, Boston has been 0-10 against it. They are now only 17-26-0 (39.5%) for the season. This streak includes six games where the Bruins have won on the moneyline and lost. The streak began in 2005, when they won five straight games at the puck-line. You don't need to turn up the sports talk radio. They will be fine. Trick.
