Official betting is where the NHL teams have signed partnerships with sportsbooks that are officially designated to accept bets on the league’s games. PENN Entertainment’s online sportsbook, ESPN BET, which launched on November 14 and is available in 17 states, has been designated the NHL’s official online sportsbook.

Betting on sports comes in all shapes and sizes, from moneylines to spreads to parlays. But at its core, it is about putting your money behind an outcome and getting paid if that outcome is achieved. There are also bets that focus on specific outcomes, like how many points a team will score or how many yards a player will throw for.

Regardless of the type of bet you place, there are some rules that all bettors must follow. One is that no player, member of a team staff (including coaches and managers), or tournament official may make any bet on a game in which they are involved as a participant. This is in compliance with a rule known as “Rule 21”.

Joseph J. Sullivan, an American bookmaker and gambler, was the man who helped initiate what would become one of baseball’s biggest scandals in 1919 when he paid eight members of the Chicago White Sox to fix a World Series game. The players involved – Oscar Felsch, Arnold Gandil, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Fred McMullin, George Weaver, Charles Risberg, and Claude Williams — were all banned from professional baseball for life.