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Flyers GM Ron Hextall: Legalized sports gambling won't affect NHL players

Legalized sports betting will not make a difference to NHL players, Flyers general manager Ron Hextall said.

“I can’t imagine it’s going to have any effect on our players,” Hextall said Monday afternoon after the Supreme Court made sports betting legal in the United States, a decision that was especially hailed in New Jersey because the state has been fighting to legalize sports betting in casinos and racetracks. “They go out and play hockey. We have good people, so I can’t imagine that it will affect them at all.”

Ted Leonsis, owner of the NHL’s Washington Capitals and the NBA’s Washington Wizards, said in a statement that the decision “brings a multibillion-dollar industry out of the shadows and into the sunlight, where its integrity can be guaranteed and consumers can be better protected.