NHL player poll: As sports betting increases, so do harassing messages — and requests for money

Saturday, November 23, 2024 12:41 PM
  • The Athletic

There doesn’t have to be a milestone moment or viral play for an NHL player’s phone to be flooded with notifications in the wake of a game. Maybe there’s a text from a parent, a reminder from a partner, a few messages of congratulations or condolences. Not to mention the usual spate of emails and push alerts that inevitably pile up when you’ve been away from your phone for a few hours.

But these days, as sports betting becomes more and more prevalent in the hockey world, there’s a new app jockeying for space atop players’ home screens.

“I’ve been sent Venmo requests before,” one NHL player surveyed in The Athletic’s player poll said.