Major Leagues and Players Associations Urge Permanent Bans on Bettors Threatening Athletes

Five major professional sports leagues and their players associations have sent a joint letter dated September 15 to state gaming regulators across the country. The organizations seek uniform rules to permanently bar bettors who harass or threaten athletes, coaches, officials, team personnel, or their families. The letter ties the rise in such conduct to the expansion of legalized sports betting that followed the 2018 Supreme Court ruling striking down key PASPA provisions.

The groups argue that threatening behavior linked to betting losses has become an increasing concern. As first reported by World Casino News, they stated that threatening the safety of an athlete or their family members over a sports bet crosses a bright ethical and criminal line.

Leagues Outline Three Key Regulatory Measures

The letter calls for three coordinated steps. Regulated sportsbooks would face a requirement to permanently revoke betting privileges for any individual verified to have engaged in threats or abusive harassment, applying to both professional and amateur sports participants. Regulators would also create a standardized reporting process enabling sports organizations to submit verified evidence directly to gaming authorities and law enforcement for placement on statewide exclusion lists, with reciprocal recognition of those decisions across jurisdictions.

A third measure would tie gaming licenses to active operator efforts to identify, monitor, and ban accounts connected to abusive conduct. The letter notes that 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. It repeats that such threats cross a bright ethical and criminal line and are entirely unacceptable.

Betting Growth Brings New Challenges

The organizations link the increase in incidents to the nationwide rollout of licensed sportsbooks and mobile platforms after the 2018 PASPA decision. Athletes have publicly described receiving abusive messages, often tied to player-proposition bets. Former Boston Red Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito previously warned that the situation could worsen without stronger protections. The letter concludes that the safety and well-being of players, coaches, officials, and their families must always come before a wager, and abusive threats should not deter full performance.

Existing state programs offer partial models. Ohio, West Virginia, Louisiana, and Wyoming maintain exclusion processes. Massachusetts operates its Bet on Respect reporting initiative with support from BetMGM, Caesars, DraftKings, Fanatics, and FanDuel. West Virginia enacted related legislation in 2024, Ohio in 2023, and Louisiana this year. Operators including BetMGM have updated terms of service, while Fanatics launched its Bad Actor Program with Integrity Compliance 360 and Signify Group. FanDuel has enforced bans, including against a bettor who targeted Olympic champion Gabby Thomas.

The primary risk lies in the current patchwork of state rules, which the letter implicitly acknowledges leaves gaps in consistent enforcement and cross-border effect. Without unified adoption, operators face uneven compliance burdens and leagues confront ongoing safety threats that the joint filing seeks to address through mandatory, reciprocal standards.

Reporting: World Casino News

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