NCAA student athletes receive a lot of abuse from angry sport betters because they are causing these betters to lose their money, the most common type of harassment student athletes receive. Twelve percent of this abuse occurs publicly on social media.
In both 2023 and 2024, Americans bet more $120 billion on sports in all US states with regulated sports books. This accounted for over $10 billion in sportsbook revenue each year – eloquent proof that every state is active on the betting board. According to the Morningstar, “since the federal ban on sports betting was lifted in 2018, Americans have wagered a total of $420 billion on sports.” Bookies expect Americans to wager more than $35 billion on the NFL.
The NCAA came together with a data science company and analyzed social media accounts for more than 3000 student athletes, about 500 coaches, 200 event officials, and 165 teams during the 2024 College Football Playoffs, also the men and women basketball tournament, College World Series, Volleyball, and gymnastics championship.
The study defined these sport bettors as people who “engage in problematic and intrusive communications due to match events and results contradicting bettors’ predictions.” Student athletes receive harassment messages during, before, and after sport events. Sexual abuse, racism, and homophobia are some harassment categories that the athletes receive.
The study flagged 743 abusive messages that had to do with betting, 73% of these messages came during March Madness, which is the most popular event bet on by these gamblers. Surprisingly, women receive more abusive messages than men by approximately 59%.
The NCAA released an example of an athlete receiving a message that read “Yo no big deal but if you don’t get 22 points and 12 boards everyone you know and love will Be dead.”
