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New Jersey Gambling Ring Has Ties to NFL Star Wayne Gretzky
A New Jersey gambling ring has been found to implicate some of the NHL's top coaches and players. Many of the accused have significant ties to star player Wayne Gretzky.
The gambling ring, police said, processed more than 1,000 bets on college and profession sports games, worth almost $2 million.
The alleged financier of the ring is Rick Tocchet, who, in addition to being Gretzky's more senior assistant couch, is also a close personal friend of the star. Tochett will be charged with a criminal offense for his participation in the gambling ring. Although he has not denied involvement, he emphasized that the gambling was not hockey- related. The gambling was, he said, "a football thing."
An investigation that the New Jersey police are calling "Operation Slapshot" has revealed that several NHL players, along with Gretzy's wife, had placed bets using the gambling ring.
Gretzky, who is widely known as hockey's best player, and is now in his first season as the head coach of the Phoenix Coyotes, denied all knowledge of the gambling ring when questioned by reporters on Tuesday night. He said that he had first heard of its existence when Tocchet called him on Monday night.
Gretzky expressed sympathy for his friend: "The sad thing about this whole scenario is that Rick is a wonderful person and a great guy, so I hope everything works out in his favor,'' he said. "It's hard because I love the guy. He's a great guy, you know. I just hope it all works out for him.''
He said that his wife, actress Janet Jones, has not spoken to him about her involvement in the illegal gambling ring. He expressed support for her, but told reporters that it is hard to comment on the issue since he is not involved. He promised reporters that Jones herself would speak to them at some point in the near future.
"Listen, first of all, my wife is my best friend,'' Gretzky said. "My love for her is deeper than anything. The reality is, I'm not involved, I wasn't involved and I'm not going to be involved. Am I concerned for both of them? Sure there's concern from me. I'm more worried about them than me. I'm like you guys, I'm trying to figure it all out.''
"We didn't get into it other than she was concerned about Rick and she felt it was a tough situation with him,'' Gretzky said, "and she would sit down at some point and answer questions that everybody has for her and be her own person.''
Gretzky told reporters that, aside from the occasional trip to Las Vegas, he is not a gambling man.
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