The NFL, MLB, MLS, NBA, NHL and their players’ unions formally asked state regulators Tuesday to address the “escalating threat” of harassment and violent threats directed at athletes and staff.
“Too often, individuals who lose sports bets direct threatening and harassing messages toward players, coaches and their families via social media and in-person interactions,” the groups wrote in a letter signed by each of the sports leagues and unions.
Athletes across sports have increasingly spoken out about harassment and threats received by bettors who lost money, as sports betting has surged since the Supreme Court paved the way for widespread legalization in 2018.
Earlier this year, the NCAA launched an anti-harassment campaign, and the Big Ten athletes commission asked the NCAA to advocate limiting prop bets because of athlete harassment.
The leagues and unions ask gaming commissions and regulators to require sportsbooks to implement a lifetime ban on bettors found to have “abusively harassed or issued threats of violence” toward athletes, coaches or other athletic staff and their families.
The letter also asks regulators to create a standardized reporting system and to require sportsbooks to “proactively monitor, flag, and ban accounts linked to abusive behavior.”
“Harassing or threatening an athlete, coach, or official over a sports bet is unacceptable, and we support efforts to hold those individuals accountable,” said Joe Maloney, president of the Sports Betting Alliance, an industry group that includes a variety of sportsbooks, in response to the letter. “Legal sportsbooks already have policies to suspend or ban customers who engage in threatening or abusive behavior.
“SBA members are investing in tools and partnerships that help identify bad actors and share information with leagues and other stakeholders. We welcome efforts by leagues, players and regulators to build on that work and make clear that harassment has no place in sports.”
The letter comes as teams and leagues are striking partnership deals with sportsbooks. Many have also struck deals with prediction markets, which are regulated federally. Some athletes have also appeared in sports betting and prediction market advertisements.
The letter does not include any of the major women’s leagues or unions. A source with the Women’s National Basketball Players Association, speaking under condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, said they learned about the letter after it was published.
“It is deeply disappointing that, given the very public and troubling incidents of betting-related harassment experienced by our members over the past several seasons, the NBA determined that WNBA players did not warrant inclusion in a joint position statement intended to address this very issue,” WNBA Executive Director Terri Carmichael Jackson said in a statement.
The National Women’s Soccer League Players Association also said it learned of the letter after it was published.
Meghann Burke, executive director of the NWSLPA, said, “The NWSLPA supports efforts to protect professional athletes in both men’s and women’s sports from harassment and violent threats of all kinds for all reasons, including those of the kind driven by sports betting.”
Annie Costabile, Jonathan Jones, Meg Linehan and Sabreena Merchant contributed to this report.