A news release from the B.C. Lottery Corporation came into my inbox this morning with the headline: 鈥淛im Benning: Here Today, Gone Tomorrow?鈥�
It was about the fact that people can now wager on if the general manager of the 麻豆传媒映画Canucks will get fired.
麻豆传媒映画Canucks GM Jim Benning. Photo by Dan Toulgoet/麻豆传媒映画Courier
鈥淎fter making a splash at the NHL Draft in his trade for J.T. Miller, and on the eve of NHL Free Agency, will Jim Benning鈥檚 bold moves lead to him returning as the 麻豆传媒映画Canucks鈥� General Manager in 2020? Canucks fans and B.C. bettors have the opportunity to wager on聽聽if Benning will be extended and remain the club鈥檚 GM for the 2020-21 season.鈥�
That seems pretty tacky. Actually, it鈥檚 pretty disgusting.
Look, I am not a Benning fan. I've argued on Twitter that the team would be better off without him, but that鈥檚 part of sports. People love to argue about the direction of their sports teams and criticize management. It's been happening since the beginning of organized sports.
But asking people to bet on if the GM is going to get fired feels like another level of yuck. Winning money at the expense of somebody's job would feel gross. Are the folks at BCLC really that desperate that they have to dive down into the gutter asking for bets on somebody鈥檚 employment status?
Getting fired or laid off or whatever sucks for anyone. It hurts, even if you make as much money as Benning does. It鈥檚 humiliating to get fired in the public eye 鈥� asking people to bet on that humiliation is inhumane.
It鈥檚 a clich茅, but the folks at BCLC should be ashamed of themselves.
