As a leading mental health support platform for college/university athletes, Kindbridge has extensively covered an unfortunate phenomenon that has accompanied the meteoric rise of legal sports betting across the USA. In our article A New Threat to College Athlete Mental Health we reported rumblings of angry sports bettors making threats against NCAA Division I basketball and football players. College athlete abuse thus far has come in the form of online harassment along with an increase of verbal assault from the stands. In a follow up feature we discussed how the problem has grown so concerning that the FBI has launched an investigation into the matter.
Yes, it’s serious, and needs to be afforded task-force level consideration before threats manifest as physical altercations. Understanding the critical nature, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) partnered with a data science company and launched a study to get to the bottom of the phenomenon. The study analyzed social media accounts of more than 3,100 college/university athletes in addition to about 500 coaches, 200 referees/officials, and 165 teams during periods when betting interest varied from mild and moderate to high. Game and event schedules coinciding with social media account monitoring included the 2024 College Football Playoff, the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament (men’s and women’s), and the College World Series (men’s and women’s) in addition to volleyball and gymnastics championships (men’s and women’s). The study only analyzed public-facing communications, not direct/private messages, where abuse is likely more extreme.
Below is a succinct breakdown of the key findings, concluding with a clear call to action for what needs to be done to protect the mental wellbeing of young athletes across America.
Note: Additional data may be added to this accounting of college athlete abuse statistics as more information is released by the NCAA and other researchers. Bookmark this page and check back often for updates.
Statistics Regarding College Athlete Abuse and Harassment by Disgruntled Sports Bettors (and what needs to be done)
General Statistics About College Athlete Abuse
Harassment from angry sports bettors makes up 12% of college athlete abuse on social media
Angry sports bettors drive as much as 45% of all abuse surrounding major sports tournaments
80% of the abuse was directed at March Madness student-athletes
One student-athlete received more than 1,400 abusive messages in under 2 weeks.
Types of Abusive Messages from Angry Bettors
Sexual abuse (18%) racism (10%) and homophobia/transphobia (9%) are among the most common harassment categories
6% of harassment indicated threat of violence, or desire for physical harm to come to an athlete
743 abusive or threatening messages referenced betting or match-fixing allegations, with 73% of this type of message occurring during NCAA March Madness
Gender Concerns Regarding Athlete Abuse
Women athletes received approximately 59% more abusive messages than men
24% of abusive messages related to women’s softball were from angry bettors, compared to 12% across all sports
Women’s championship softball received 100% more messages alleging cheating and corruption when compared with the men’s championship baseball
Women’s basketball student-athletes received approximately 3 x more threats than men’s basketball student-athletes
Implications of College Prop Betting
Regulated U.S. states that maintain a ban on prop betting reported fewer issues of harassment
What Needs to Be Done to Protect Athletes
Increased social media monitoring and reporting (which lands in the hands of the respective platforms and federal authorities) in addition to increased presence of on-premises security for athletes before, during, and after games/events is the practical place to start. Beyond this, there are reasonable regulatory and mental health protections that need to be employed to help athletes.
i) Revisit Regulations Regarding College Prop Betting
A singular player may or may not be able to impact the moneyline or point spread outcome of a game or event. This somewhat limits the potential for direct blame being levied upon them by bettors who lose upon an outcome. Prop bets are a different story because player props (i.e. over/under on how many fouls a player may get in a game, etc.) are directly related to player performance. Consequently, bettors who lose on a player prop rationalize that the player is directly to blame. This may cause problem gamblers who are prone to angry outbursts to lash out and harass or threaten an athlete. While no one expects governing bodies at the federal or regulated state level to rollback the legality of sports betting, it is time to reconsider the allowance of proposition wagers in collegiate sports.
ii) Operator Messaging and No-Tolerance Policy
Operators are encouraged to initiate a no-tolerance policy and include messaging about the policy on the interface of all college betting line sections of their sites and apps. Messaging should indicate that if member connected social media profiles have been flagged/reported for athlete abuse, that their respective sports betting accounts will be permanently closed. Positive impact may be as negligible as small-print Responsible Gaming messaging, however, exposure to said messaging could provide enough pause to have bettors rethink their actions.
iii) Increased Investment in Mental Health Support Services for Athletes
Collegiate sports organizations are called upon to make a greater investment in mental health support for the young adults who play their hearts out for them. Enhanced services must be readily available to these athletes in addition to coaches, refs, and support staff who may also be vulnerable to attacks. Direct and immediate (online) connections to specialized counsellors should become as commonplace as on-premises fitness centers, physical therapy providers, and other student athlete services.
Concerned Athletes, Coaches, and Collegiate Administrators
Email [email protected]
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CALL +1 (877) 426-4258
