U.S. Sports Leagues Urge Lifetime Ban For Sports Betting Harassment
By Robert Linnehan in Uncategorized
Published:
- Five major U.S. sports leagues and their respective players associations today called for more regulatory action against sports betting harassment
- Leagues request mandatory lifetime sports betting bans for individuals found to be harassing athletes, coaches, or officials
- Several states have already approved regulations to ban sports betting harassment
Five major U.S. professional sports leagues and their respective players associations today urged greater regulatory action against customers found engaging in sports betting harassment against athletes, coaches, and officials.
According to ESPN senior NFL Insider Adam Schefter, the NFL, MLB, MLS, NBA and NHL, along with their respective players’ unions, today sent letters to state gaming regulators urging harsher punishments for individuals found harassing both professional and amateur athletes, coaches, officials, and team personnel related to sports betting.
“Too often, individuals who lose sports bets direct threatening and harassing messages towards players, coaches, and their families via social media and in-person interactions. Threatening the safety of an athlete and their family members over a sports bet crosses a bright ethical and criminal line, and it is entirely unacceptable,” representatives wrote in the letter to state regulators.
Lifetime Ban for Harassment
The leagues and player unions proposed three pieces of regulatory action for states with legalized sports betting to consider. The first, and most immediate, is a mandatory lifetime ban from sports betting activities from individuals verified to have “abusively harassed or issued threats of violence against any professional or amateur coach, official, team personnel, or their respective families.”
In accordance with this request, the associations urged states to implement a “streamlined reporting mechanism” for leagues, teams, players, and players’ associations to report harassment and evidence to threats related to sports betting.
Finally, the associations included a call for “operator accountability” to require commercial sports betting operators to monitor, flag, and ban accounts linked to abusive behavior toward athletes as a condition of licensing and maintaining their licenses.
“The safety and well-being of players, coaches, officials and their families must always come before a wager. As game participants do their utmost to protect integrity, abusive and violent threats should not serve as a deterrence from performing to their fullest. We ask you for your support in establishing policies that ensure those who threaten athletes or coaches lose their privilege to participate in sports betting forever,” the letter concludes.
The following associations signed the letter in support:
- National Football League
- National Football League Players Association
- Major League Baseball
- Major League Baseball Players Association
- Major League Soccer
- Major League Soccer Players Association
- National Basketball Association
- National Basketball Association Players Association
- National Hockey League
- National Hockey League Players Association
Joe Maloney, President of the Sports Betting Alliance, told Sports Betting Dime that the alliance supports league efforts to hold those engaging in harassing behavior accountable for their actions.
“Harassing or threatening an athlete, coach, or official over a sports bet is unacceptable, and we support efforts to hold those individuals accountable. 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,” he said.
Time for All States to Take a Stand
The letters referenced previous regulatory action taken by Ohio, West Virginia, Louisiana, and Wyoming, all of whom passed new rules in an attempt to stem sports betting harassment. The associations, however, called on all states with legalized sports betting to do the same.
“It is critical that state and local leaders safeguard the participants of sports at all levels.”
The letters did not mention recent action taken by Massachusetts, whose gaming commission announced a zero-tolerance policy for sports betting harassment in late August.
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission’s approved “Bet on Respect” awareness campaign includes a new portal for league representatives, players’ associations, college athletics programs, sports venues, or even players themselves to report suspected abuse.
The MGC will fully investigate each reported instance of alleged abuse. If patrons are found to have committed such acts, they may be subject to involuntary exclusion from sports betting platforms or casinos.
Four States Have Harassment Plans in Place
Wyoming, Ohio, Louisiana, and West Virginia all currently have rules on the books allowing their regulatory bodies to ban residents from sports betting if found to be engaged in harassing behavior.
The Wyoming Gaming Commission approved changes to its regulations in December 2024 to better define harassment and voted to allow those found to be engaging in harassing behavior against athletes to be placed on an involuntary exclusion list to be banned from sports betting in the state.
The Wyoming Gaming Commission worked with the state’s attorney general’s office to amend the definition of harassment to the following:
Ohio legislators also included a provision in the Ohio 2024-2025 fiscal year budget to allow state regulators to permanently ban or place sports bettors on an exclusion list if they’re found to be harassing or threatening student-athletes over a sporting event. Under the law, this does not apply to professional athletes, former Ohio Casino Control Commission (OCCC) Executive Director Matthew Schuler told Sports Betting Dime.
Here’s what the approved provision says:
“Allows CAC to exclude a person from participating in sports gaming in Ohio if the person has threatened violence or harm against a person who is involved in a sporting event, where the threat was related to sports gaming and made before, during, or after a sporting event. Stipulates that this provision enhances and in no way decreases a CAC’s existing broad powers and authority in this area.”
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (R) signed a state bill into law in March 2024, but the legislation did not go into effect until June 2024. It allows the West Virginia Lottery Commission to effectively ban individuals from participating in sports betting for the following reasons:
- A prior conviction of this code
- A prior violation of an order from the lottery commission
- If the commission determines that the person poses a threat to the safety of patrons or participants in a sporting event or determines that the person has engaged in a pattern of conduct of harassing a sports official, coach, or any participants.
Louisiana legislators also this year signed a bill into law giving the Louisiana Gaming Control Board the power to exclude customers from either in-person or online sports betting if found engaging in the following actions:
“Those persons who, before, during, or after a sporting event, threaten violence or harm against any person who is involved in the sporting event, where the threat is related to sports gaming. Those persons whose presence in a retail sports book or whose participation in the play or operation of mobile wagering in this state is determined by the board to pose a threat to the interests of the state, to achieving the intents and purposes of this Title, or to the strict and effective regulation of sports wagering.”
Regulatory Writer and Editor
Robert Linnehan covers all regulatory developments in online gambling and sports betting. He specializes in U.S. sports betting news along with casino regulation news as one of the most trusted sources in the country.
