Every major U.S. professional sports league has joined forces to press state gambling regulators for tougher penalties against bettors who threaten and harass athletes, coaches, and their families after losing wagers.
MLB, MLS, the NBA, the NFL, and the NHL, along with their respective players’ unions, issued a joint statement calling on state gambling commissions to impose stricter consequences on gamblers who cross the line from frustration into threats. Among the leagues’ demands: permanent bans from sportsbooks for the worst offenders.
“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 joint statement reads, according to the New York Post.
“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 leagues said.
The leagues are asking states to let sportsbooks permanently ban any bettor caught harassing players, coaches, officials, or their families. They also want regulators to build a formal system so leagues can report abusive gamblers directly. And they want state authorities to require every licensed sportsbook to take part in that reporting and banning system, with the threat of losing their license for any operator that refuses.
The push comes as players and league officials describe harassment from angry bettors that has gone well beyond typical fan frustration, spilling from online abuse into confrontations in person.
Former Mets pitcher Ryne Stanek said the threats were a daily occurrence during his playing career. “It’s not anything that every baseball player doesn’t deal with all the time,” he said. “Like, ‘You cost me my parlay, I hope your family dies.'”
Nina Westbrook, wife of former NBA star Russell Westbrook, described the abuse as “routine,” recalling one message that read: “I hope you both die in a car crash, dumb bitch.”
Rockets point guard Fred VanVleet said the danger isn’t confined to the internet. He recounted being approached by an upset gambler at church, saying, “It’s the in-person one you gotta be careful for.”
The leagues’ joint statement puts the onus on state regulators, who license and oversee the sportsbooks that have expanded rapidly since states began legalizing sports betting. Whether individual states adopt the requested rules, and how sportsbooks would enforce a shared reporting and banning system across operators, remains to be seen.
