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NHL Old- Timer Reminisces About Gambling, Comments on Current Scandal
Gaye Stewart, a National Hockey League old- timer, recently had a few choice words to say about the gambling scandal involving former Philadelphia Flyers star Rick Tocchet.
Stewart, who played for the Blackhawks in the formative days of the league, remembers the first gambling scandal to rock the sporting world. He played against the now infamous Don Gallinger of the Boston Bruins on the very same day that Gallinger bet against his own team, causing a half- century banishment from the game of hockey. Gallinger and another teammate, Bill Taylor, were caught in phone taps of a notorious Chicago gambling kingpin.
Speaking for his own, and his teammates' reaction to the gambling scandal, Stewart said, "We didn't know anything about it until there was some newspaper stories, but it wasn't a big, big story like this one (the current allegations of an NFL gambling scandal) has become."
According to Stewart, gambling and hockey are very natural companions. Hockey players during his time in the NFL frequented the same bars and clubs as gambling operators of all ilk, including those who were associated with the mafia. Stewart said that, in his years in Chicago, he was a frequent visitor, to the Midwest Athletic Club. This club, he said, was also a popular hangout and workout gym for bookies and gamblers.
In fact, the entire fifth floor of the club was dedicated to gambling, and especially to taking bets on horse racing.
"Al Capone's brother George lived there and a key figure in the Senate hearings on organized crime in the 1950s, Virginia Hill, would be around there, too. She was (gangster and Las Vegas gambling pioneer) Bugsy Siegel's courier from Las Vegas to Chicago."
Stewart said that the world of sports is rife with gambling, and not just in Chigaco. Everywhere he played, he said, gambling was widespread and often excessive.
"When I played in Toronto, you could hear the bookies up behind the blue seats setting the odds."
Stewart offered some advice for the NFL players who followed in his footsteps. Players, he said, need to be extra- careful about the people with whom they associate, and should also not fall into the temptation of problem gambling. Salaries in the NHL, and indeed in all professional sports, are much larger than they were in his youth, which leads many athletes to have a too- cavalier attitude about gambling.
Gambling can be especially dangerous for young professional athletes if their betting activity of choice is sports- related. The temptation to match- fixing in order to get out of debt or to get out of a losing streak is simply too great.
The NHL does not have a rule against gambling by its players. However, while gambling in general is allowed, players are not permitted to wager on NHL games.
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