NHL is Increasing Gambling Security Ahead of Las Vegas Move

It was reported today that the NHL is increasing its gambling security before their first team moves to Las Vegas in an attempt to curb illegal gaming

The NHL has now made US gambling news by teaming up with Sportradar, a multinational corporation that specializes in detecting fraud and match fixing. Sportrader is partially owned by the NLF, who also use their services in order to detect illegal gambling.

The move comes as no surprise. One of the NHL’s primary concerns with expanding into Las Vegas was the prevalence of sports betting in the city. Commissioner Gary Bettman however, has publically supported the Las Vegas move, and wasn’t concerned with the legal sports betting scene, as ice hockey is one of the least popular sport that players wager money on.

$1.8 billion was bet on football and $1.4 billion bet on basketball by the end of 2015. Hockey, meanwhile, only generated $336 million in sports bets. Still, the prevalence of illegal betting is everywhere, and Andreas Krannich, Sportradar’s managing director, feels their services will greatly benefit the NHL moving forward.

“You would be surprised how far this cancer is already in sport,” he said. “There’s already international organized crime looking into this topic.”

What exactly does Sportradar do?

Sportradar utilizes data from over 550 million betting operators across the world to determine any unusually activity. They monitor over 100,000 sporting matches across 12 different sports every year in order to protect the integrity of sport.

The NHL is increasing in popularity every year, and the more people watching means the more people will be betting. It remains to be seen exactly when the NHL will begin playing in Las Vegas, but they are clearly taking the necessary steps in order to make the deal happen.

Do you think it’s a good thing that the NHL is increasing its gambling security? Will more sports begin cracking down on illegal gaming? Leave your comments below, and make sure to check out GamingZion’s list of online sportsbooks in the US to find the best websites for betting on the NHL!