BetMGM introduces 'zero-tolerance' athlete anti-harassment policy targeting sports betting threats and abuse

FIRST ON FOX — The sports betting manufacture says it is taking a large measurement guardant successful the extortion of athletes and the preservation of the integrity of the crippled with a groundbreaking argumentation that holds bettors accountable for threats made against players, coaches and officials.

BetMGM volition motorboat a caller "Athlete Anti-Harassment Policy" this week that volition let the betting relation to suspend oregon permanently terminate a customer’s relationship if it is determined that they person engaged "in abusive, threatening, defamatory, oregon harassing behaviour of immoderate benignant toward sports officials, coaches, athletes, oregon immoderate different individuals connected to sporting events." 

The "zero-tolerance" argumentation comes astatine a clip erstwhile players person been vocal astir the emergence successful online harassment amid a emergence successful sports betting.

The sportsbook successful the Circa Resort & Hotel up of Super Bowl LVIII successful Las Vegas, Nevada, connected Feb. 10, 2024. (Mario Hommes/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)

Rhea Loney, main compliance serviceman of BetMGM, spoke to Fox News Digital successful an exclusive interrogation astir the caller argumentation and explained the information down the request for much explicit protections for players and different sports figures.

 CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

"Harassment of athletes being tied to betting outcomes is not thing immoderate of america should accept. Athletes nether criticism, you know, that comes with the job," Loney explained, "But erstwhile it comes to threats, abuse, intimidation, that's conscionable different. And threats, abuse, intimidation, and harassment, they harm individuals. They undermine the integrity of sport."

Social media person go a large origin successful this issue, with fans and bettors getting entree to players much easy than ever before. Over the summer, Boston Red Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito said helium raised the contented straight with MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred.

Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Lucas Giolito leaves a shot crippled against the Chicago Cubs during the sixth inning astatine Wrigley Field connected July 18, 2025. (Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images)

"When it comes to the gambling, it evidently has created an uptick successful insane radical online — well, not insane, conscionable disgruntled," helium told the "Baseball isn’t Boring" podcast successful July. "I’m getting messages aft each game, adjacent games wherever I transportation good wherever they’re made astatine maine due to the fact that I deed the onslaught retired implicit alternatively of being under, oregon I was nether alternatively of being implicit similar prop bets – each these brainsick things. And radical enactment hundreds of dollars connected it, and they don’t person a batch of money, but they're gambling it anyways due to the fact that it's a disease. They freak out." 

RED SOX'S LUCAS GIOLITO CONFRONTS MLB COMMISH ABOUT SPORTS BETTING

Loney said that whether those threats are made online, via societal media, oregon successful idiosyncratic won’t matter, the definitions of harassment are wide to BetMGM. 

"We're going to analyse this, and we're going to look astatine the behaviour being reported to us. And I deliberation determination is simply a wide enactment – there's a wide enactment betwixt fandom excitement and past there's a wide enactment betwixt erstwhile it's threats of unit and erstwhile there's radical slurs oregon erstwhile the fans are past saying horrible things to athletes due to the fact that of a definite people successful a game."

"That's not going to beryllium tolerated by us," she continued. "And those are going to beryllium the individuals that we're going to instrumentality enactment against, and we don't privation them connected our sports betting platform. We don't privation them to beryllium a lawsuit of ours due to the fact that they are undermining the integrity of the game."

Loney said that the much accusation provided astir the ailment allows BetMGM to analyse and pinpoint if that idiosyncratic has an account. Complaints tin beryllium made to instrumentality enforcement and authorities regulators, BetMGM’s lawsuit service, and done an anonymous hotline. Once BetMGM has capable information, it volition motorboat an investigation. 

Loney said that whether those threats are made online, via societal media, oregon successful idiosyncratic won’t matter, the definitions of harassment are wide to BetMGM. (PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images)

"We, arsenic the ineligible market, cognize a batch of accusation astir our customers due to the fact that they person to spell done precise extended KYC procedures. We cognize names, we cognize addresses, we cognize emails and these are each the requirements for participants to registry and beryllium successful the beryllium successful the legal, regulated market. So then, based connected the accusation that we instrumentality from the investigative study that's sent to us, we'll spot if we're capable to place the societal media relationship successful your example, whoever sent the DM. We whitethorn besides enactment with our regulators and instrumentality enforcement arsenic good for them depending connected the quality of the ailment and the quality of the threat. We would enactment with our regulators and instrumentality enforcement arsenic good and they whitethorn beryllium capable to person different avenues to assistance america different than what we person internally astatine BetMGM."

NCAA PRESIDENT URGES STATE LAWMAKERS TO BAN PROP BETTING: 'PROTECT THE INTEGRITY OF THE GAME'

In June, constabulary successful Texas identified a antheral overseas arsenic the culprit who allegedly made decease threats directed astatine Houston Astros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. and his household successful May. Police said the antheral was "inebriated" erstwhile helium made the threats connected societal media aft helium mislaid wealth connected a bet.

The Astros hired information for McCullers and his family. McCullers said helium struggled with explaining the concern to his 5-year-old daughter. 

"She asked maine erstwhile I came home, ‘Daddy, like, what is threats? Who wants to wounded us? Who wants to wounded me?’" McCullers told The Associated Press astatine the time. "So, those conversations are pugnacious to woody with."

Lance McCullers Jr. #43 of the Houston Astros reacts to giving up 3 runs against the Philadelphia Phillies during the 5th inning successful Game 3 of the 2022 World Series astatine Citizens Bank Park connected Nov. 1, 2022, successful Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

The argumentation alteration volition explicitly people these types of incidents. 

Loney explained that portion BetMGM has ever reserved this close to clasp sports bettors accountable, this caller argumentation makes its presumption clear. 

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

"I deliberation what we wanted to bash is we really conscionable wanted to marque this overmuch much explicit and, so, you know, portion we bash person the wide quality to person suspensions successful our anterior presumption of service, what we wanted to say, and we wanted to accidental to the instrumentality base, to the sports bettors retired there, is we truly privation to stress that this is zero-tolerance. 

"We privation this to beryllium explicitly clear, and truthful we changed it astir to marque it much explicitly wide and, hopefully, to nonstop the connection retired that this is zero tolerance, and truthful I deliberation that we we shifted it to marque definite that it was wide that this isn't going to beryllium thing that we'll tolerate and to nonstop that connection retired to fans and sports bettors and besides truly to beforehand integrity wrong our industry, beforehand respect, integrity and to deter this benignant of behaviour that's been occurring."

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports sum connected X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.