US sports leagues seek lifetime betting bans for abusive punters
America’s five biggest professional sports leagues and their players’ associations are calling for sports bettors who threaten or harass athletes to face lifetime bans from legal sportsbooks.
The NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and MLS joined their respective player unions in writing to gambling regulators across 35 states and Washington DC seeking a more consistent national response to betting-related abuse.
The organisations want verified offenders permanently excluded from licensed sports betting platforms.
They are also calling for standardised reporting systems allowing incidents to be shared with regulators and law enforcement, as well as requirements for sportsbooks to identify and remove customers connected with threatening behaviour.
The leagues said abuse associated with sports betting increasingly reaches players, coaches, officials, team staff and their families through social media and in-person encounters.
“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 organisations said.
Only a small number of states currently have systems allowing betting-related harassment to result in exclusion from legal sportsbooks, including Ohio, West Virginia, Louisiana and Wyoming.
The leagues want those protections expanded and recognised across state borders so a bettor excluded in one jurisdiction cannot simply continue wagering elsewhere.
The proposal would add another responsible gambling and integrity obligation for licensed US sportsbooks if adopted by state regulators.
The Women’s National Basketball Players Association separately criticised the NBA after women’s professional leagues were not included in the joint initiative, despite WNBA players also reporting betting-related abuse.
