How does sports betting affect college hockey?

Major sports leagues have become fans of sports betting, but college sports still don’t like the idea. Does sports betting legalization effect how college hockey is run?

Sports betting is great. People love sports betting. Don LaGreca of ESPN New York 98.7 loves sports betting. The NHL has even grown to love sports betting. Now it might be time for college hockey to address it.

It’s ironic how much the NHL loves sports betting now. There was once a time when the league wasn’t a fan of placing wagers. When former New Jersey governor Chris Christie first announced a push to legalize sports betting in the state, the NHL joined other major sports leagues in lobbying against the move.

One of the organizations joining the lobbying was the NCAA. Even if college sports betting is big money they didn’t want any part of it. That’s understandable, after all placing bets on professionals is one thing but placing bets on unpaid amateur student athletes is completely different.

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Let’s go back to the New Jersey example. New Jersey has been the center of the legalized sports book ever since the Supreme Court ruling that said its fine. To appease the NCAA, New Jersey ruled you can’t sports bet any college sporting event or game including a team from New Jersey. So if you were a Rutgers fan in the Garden State, you couldn’t legally place a bet on their win over Michigan State.

Also you can’t bet on college sporting event and games taking place in New Jersey. So those “neutral site” events like the Final Four and College Football Playoff and championship can’t have bets placed on them in New Jersey if they take place in New Jersey. That’s even if teams from New Jersey aren’t involved.

What does that mean for college hockey? We there’s only one NCAA division one I’ve hockey team in the state at Princeton University. Aside from the New Jersey example let’s take a look at every place the Frozen Four has been held since sports betting became legal nationally in 2018. The 2018 Frozen Four took place in Minnesota, but before the Supreme Court ruling in May. The 2019 Frozen Four took place in Buffalo, New York.

New York State allows sports betting at some physical locations, but not online like their New Jersey neighbors. There aren’t any current plans for online or app based legalization, although it seems the issue can come up in 2021 at the earliest. Just like New Jersey, New York has the same rules on betting college sports in that you can’t bet on New York college teams or college games an events happening in New York.

The NCAA definitely isn’t avoiding putting events in places with sports betting. They recently awarded New Jersey the 2025 Eastern Regionals for men’s basketball. The next two Frozen Fours for 2021 and 2022 will take place in Pittsburgh and Boston, respectively. Sports betting, both legal and in person, is legal in Pennsylvania. Sports betting is currently not legalized in Massachusetts.

The NCAA may not like sports betting, but they are going to have to live with it. The NHL decided “if you can’t beat them, join them” and embraced it. The NCAA wants to keep gamblers at arms length.

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