5 Major Sports Leagues and Players Associations Ask for Protections From Sports Bettors' Threats
The leagues want bans to extend across state lines and say 35 states and Washington, D.C., need stronger protections for athletes and staff.
- On Tuesday, the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and MLS sent a joint letter to gaming regulators in 35 states and the District of Columbia requesting stronger protections against athlete harassment from sports bettors.
- The letter cited "the escalating threat facing professional players, coaches, and officials" from bettors, emphasizing that losing a wager should never justify personally targeting athletes or their families through harassment.
- Organizations asked regulators to establish rules permanently revoking betting privileges for anyone found to have "abusively harassed" personnel, while urging sportsbooks to improve information sharing across state lines.
- Ohio, West Virginia, Louisiana, and Wyoming already exclude "bad actors" from licensed sportsbooks, establishing precedent the leagues hope will expand to the remaining 35 states following the Supreme Court's 2018 gambling legalization decision.
- Threatening an athlete or their family "crosses a bright ethical and criminal line," the leagues argued, calling on state and local leaders to safeguard sports participants from the negative consequences of expanded legal betting.
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73 Articles
There's Always More Angry Problem Gamblers Where Those Came From
This week, five sports leagues (MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, and MLS) and their associated players' unions sent letters to gambling regulators in 35 states requesting that something be done to curtail the increasing amount of harassment athletes are facing from angry gamblers. Their proposal: Give teams and players a way to report harassing behavior directly to regulators, and then have the offending bettors banned from placing future bets. It would cer…
Leagues urge bans for bettors threatening athletes
Five major U.S. professional sports leagues and their players' associations called on state regulators on Tuesday to permanently bar sports bettors who threaten or harass athletes, coaches, officials and their families.
Lifetime betting bans urged for threats
Five major U.S. professional sports leagues and their players' associations called on state regulators on Tuesday to permanently bar sports bettors who threaten or harass athletes, coaches, officials and their families.
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