Cnn
–
Gabby Thomas being last weekend The Grand Chelem track competition was shocking – except, in fact, it was not, given the frequency that it seems to happen.
Thomas, a triple Olympic gold medalist, said that she was verbally mistreated during the competition, Report on X That a “adult man followed me on the track while I took photos and signed autographs for fans (mainly children) shouting personal insults.”
Thomas’ declaration was in response to another article on X – which has since been deleted – showing a video of a heckled Thomas while they were on the starting line, shouting: “You are a strangulation artist; You go down, Gabby. ”
The social media user boasted of the way in which his actions had benefited his bet, writing: “I made Gabby lose in her.
Fanduel said He had prohibited the person responsible for the abuse From his platform, explaining it “condemns in the strongest terms, an abusive behavior directed towards the athletes”.
“Threatening or harassing athletes are unacceptable and have no place in sport. This customer is no longer able to bet with Fanduel,” shared the declaration with CNN Sports Added.
It was in 2018 that the United States Supreme Court canceled a 1992 federal law, which had prohibited most states from authorizing sports betting.
The game on sport is now legal in 39 states, which experts warn have opened the valves to a torrent of abuse to the professional and college leagues of bettors who blame them for their financial losses.
In March, the NCAA launched a campaign to approach what it described as “the alarming prevalence of abuse and harassment to the athletes of angry fans who lost a bet”.
According to an analysis of the abusive messages sent via social media to athletes, coaches and officials of colleges during the championships of division I, 12% – some 740 messages – were linked to sports betting, according to The NCAA.
Cases of such messages included a user who threatened an academic athlete with the message: “You don’t care but if you do not get 22 points and 12 plates, all those you know and love will be dead”, according to analysiswhich was produced with meaning.
Meanwhile, more than 540 abusive messages linked to betting – including death threats – were leveled against student male and female basketballs and game managers during March Madness, a preliminary set of data trends found.
Clint Hangebrauck, Director General of Business Risk Management at NCAA, told CNN: “I think the athletes are attacked at the moment, frankly, on social networks and in person, and many people hit the biggest balls are sports bettors.”
Hangebrauck, who has been working at NCAA for 15 years, said that there had been a wave of athletes receiving abuses since the federal ban on sports betting had been canceled, adding that in certain states – including Ohio and North Carolina – an abuse barrier towards athlete students was “almost immediate”.
NCAA is now Search for a ban on betting bettingfamiliarly known under the name of Paris, on university athletes, calling the phenomenon “a nightmare of mental health”. Accessories bets are made on results not associated with the final score and are often based on individual performance.
“You can even perform well, and you receive all these negative comments from Betters because you have not reached specific Paris lines,” added Hangebrauck, noting that around half of the states that allow you to play in the United States have prohibited propeller bets on athlete students.
Jason Lopez, deputy professor in the Department of Communication Arts at the University of Wisconsin, told CNN Sports: “The way in which the newly legalized sports betting universe works is that it is very common to make propeller bets where, even if it is a team sport, you can really bet on the performances of individual players.”
“This also transforms what could be a team game into an individual performance. And so it is easy to concentrate the anger you have on the bet on individual players,” said Lopez, whose research focuses on sports media and bets.
The question of bettors harassing athletes is widespread in sports disciplines, with tennis And Nba The players report abuse bodies.
For some professional athletes, this is an opportunity to retreat. In response to a social media user who gave him sorrow about his apparent nonchalance for poor performance in a game, the NBA Kevin superstar during Posted on X In November 2024, “Stop blamed me for losing money because you have a game problem.”
For others, however, comments on social networks have raised any acceptable lines. In recent weeks, MLB players, McCullers Jr. and Liam Hendriks said, have both reported that their families had been at the end of death threats.
Houston Astros McCullers Jr. launcher revealed that he had received threats from a man who went to social networks and threatened to find his children and “murder them”.
The Houston Police Service then traced these threats to a flawless sports betting from abroad which had lost money by betting on the May 10 match against the Reds of Cincinnati, by Reuters.
The Boston Red Sox Hendriks launcher reported similar abuses, Say mlb.com that “with the rise of sporting game, it worsened.”
“The threats against my life and my wife’s life are horrible and cruel,” wrote Hendriks in an article on his Instagram stories, according to MLB.com.
“You need help. Comments telling me to commit suicide and how you want me to die from cancer is disgusting and vile. Perhaps you should take a step back and reassess the goal of your life before you hide behind a screen attacking players and their families.
He added: “Whether it is Venmo’s requests, be it people who tell you in their comments:” Hey, you have brought up my called. Go for it
“This one struck a little too close to my home with everything I experienced,” said Hendriks, who announced in 2023 received a diagnosis of non -hodgkin’s lymphomaAdded.
Joe Maloney, vice-president of strategic communications director of the American Gaming Association, told CNN Sports in a press release: “The result of a bet is never an invitation to harass or threaten athletes, coaches or officials. Abuse of all kinds has no place in sport. ”
“The legal and regulated industry offers the transparency and the responsibility necessary to identify the bad actors and collaborate with the leagues, regulators and police to dissuade the misconduct and apply the consequences. Unlike illegal and unregulated market applications, Maloney added Maloney.
Lopez pointed out that, although sports betting were only recently legalized and marketed in the United States, most of the sports have been associated with betting since their beginnings, although a more underground capacity until recently.
“There is just a fundamental fact on companies (sports) and organizations that manage these games for entertainment, which is that the game helps to increase interest – this arouses interest. They therefore like all the bets that occur around them; It contributes to their sport.
“Their athletes being mistreated, especially if they are collegial athletes, could harm their entertainment product. They must therefore take very public positions on this subject in order to try to mitigate the idea that you know that this entertainment product endangers people,” he added.
Hangebrauck added to CNN: “I think there is a responsible way for engaging in sports betting, and many fans and people do it. Ninety percent of people overall We usually lose long-term sports betting, so just be responsible for how you react to this-have it yourself. »»