The NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL and MLS are joining forces with their respective players’ unions to push back against a growing problem surrounding legalized sports betting: threats and harassment directed at athletes, coaches and their families.
The leagues and unions sent a joint letter Tuesday to gaming regulators in 35 states and Washington, D.C., calling for stronger protections against bettors who cross the line after losing wagers.
The coalition wants states to establish rules that would permanently revoke betting privileges for anyone verified to have threatened or abusively harassed professional or amateur athletes, coaches, officials, team personnel or their families. (AP News)
“Threatening the safety of an athlete or their family members over a sports bet crosses a bright ethical and criminal line, and it is entirely unacceptable,” the groups wrote.
The letter points to an increasingly common problem since the expansion of legal, state-regulated sports betting. Players, coaches and their families have received threatening and abusive messages through social media, while some incidents have also occurred in person.
The leagues and unions are asking regulators to create more uniform rules rather than leaving sportsbooks and individual states to handle the problem differently.
Among the requested measures is a permanent betting ban for verified offenders, along with a standardized reporting system that could allow information about abusive bettors to be shared across operators and jurisdictions.
The coalition also wants sportsbooks to proactively monitor and flag accounts connected to abusive behavior and take action against those bettors.
Currently, Ohio, West Virginia, Louisiana and Wyoming already have mechanisms allowing certain “bad actors” to be excluded from licensed sportsbooks and mobile betting applications. The leagues are urging other states to adopt similar protections.
The push comes as athletes across professional sports have increasingly spoken about harassment connected to gambling, particularly when individual player performances affect prop bets and parlays.
WNBA Union Questions Why Women’s Sports Were Excluded
The issue also immediately created another storyline.
The Women’s National Basketball Players Association criticized the decision to exclude the WNBA from the joint statement.
WNBPA executive director Terri Carmichael Jackson called the omission “deeply disappointing,” pointing to public incidents of betting-related harassment involving WNBA players. (New York Post)
The National Women’s Soccer League Players Association was also reportedly not included in the initiative.
That creates an important question for regulators: If betting-related harassment is an industry-wide problem, shouldn’t protections extend across professional sports rather than primarily focusing on men’s leagues?
Regardless, Tuesday’s action represents one of the most significant collective efforts by major American sports organizations to address the darker side of legalized sports betting.
The message from the leagues and unions is straightforward:
Losing a bet does not give anyone the right to threaten an athlete or their family.
And the leagues now want regulators to make sure bettors who cross that line permanently lose the privilege of wagering.
