The Gretzky's and Betting

Unless you've been in a cave the past week - then you are aware of the betting scandal that is rocking the NHL. As scandals go - I must say I'm not impressed but that's a rant for another day. This morning I want to talk about how this effects Wayne Gretzky and his wife Janet Jones Gretzky.

As I understand it the facts are:

- Janet bet about $500,000 over the past month or so
- Janet bet $75,000 on the Super Bowl
- Janet bet $5,000 on the coin toss at the Super Bowl (and won)
- Wayne Gretzky is on tape asking if Tocchet could keep Janet's name out of it

I have no problem with any of the above and if you think about it for a minute I bet you won't have a problem with the actions of the Gretzky's either.

The Super Bowl is the biggest betting day of the year and almost everyone bets more on that day than any other day. If Janet Jones Gretzky liked to bet football - big deal. In fact good for her. In my younger days I used to go to a certain bar to watch the first half of the Monday night game. When I came home it was normally the start of the third quarter and it was not unusual for my wife to be watching the game when I got in. She would give me score updates but she never had an interest in betting football. My friends were all jealous and thought it was really cool that my wife followed football at all. So good for Janet for liking football and if she bets football - so what? And if she bets football - wouldn't you expect her to "load up" on the Super Bowl? Why would she be any different than any other American who bet on the Super Bowl?

So she bet $75,000 on the game and bet $5,000 on the coin toss. It's probably safe to assume that she had a couple of other prop bets - so let's say for the sake of argument that she bet $100,000 total on the game. That leaves another $400,000 or so spread out over say the NFL playoffs. With 10 games leading up to the Super Bowl that could be an average of $40,000 per game. For a person of their circumstances - that's not a lot of money.

Remember that the reports are that she bet around $500,000. It doesn't say that she lost $500,000 gambling. For all we know Janet Jones Gretzky made a bundle of fun money. Also consider the $5,000 prop bet on the coin flip. I bet $50 on that same prop bet (but I took heads and lost). That $50 for me probably equals the $5,000 Jane bet when you consider the scale of our individual circumstances. That said - if $5,000 for her equals $50 for a normal guy then the $40,000 she averaged betting on NFL playoff games (based on my assumptions) would equal about $400 per game for the average guy. I can name about a dozen guys who bet that much and all of them are productive and respected members of society.

Finally - Gretzky is on tape asking his friend if he could keep Janet's name out of it. Big deal. That's what a husband in those circumstances should do.

This will go down as a tempest in a teacup. More of a black-eye on the New Jersey State Police than on the NHL.

Wayne should go to the Olympics and continue to coach the Coyotes. Janet should come clean and not be ashamed of having an interest in betting football. And the media should quit being hypocritical. If betting on football is so bad - why does ESPN have Hank Greenberg and Chris Berman give their picks against a point spread?

The people shocked by Janet Jones Gretzky betting football should grow up and get the beam out of their own eyes before attempting to pluck the splinter out of hers.