NFL, MLB, NBA, MLS and NHL Ask Regulators for Lifetime Bans on Gamblers Who Threaten Athletes, Leave WNBA Off the Letter

Five of the biggest sports leagues in America agree on something for once: bettors who threaten players need to be banned for life.

The NFL, MLB, NBA, MLS and NHL, along with their players unions, sent a joint letter Tuesday, September 15, to gaming regulators in 35 states and the District of Columbia, according to the Associated Press. The letter asks states to require sportsbooks to permanently revoke betting privileges for anyone found to have "abusively harassed or issued threats of violence" against athletes, coaches, officials or team personnel.

"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 leagues wrote, according to the New York Times and multiple other outlets that reviewed the letter.

The letter, first shared publicly by ESPN's Adam Schefter, lays out three specific asks. First, a mandatory lifetime ban for anyone verified to have harassed or threatened athletes or their families. Second, a standardized reporting system so leagues, teams and players can flag abusive bettors to regulators. Third, a requirement that sportsbooks proactively monitor, flag and ban abusive accounts or risk their state licenses.

The Threats Are Real and Documented

This isn't hypothetical. Former Mets pitcher Ryne Stanek said he got threats from gamblers routinely during his career, according to Breitbart. "It's not anything that every baseball player doesn't deal with all the time," Stanek said. "Like, 'You cost me my parlay, I hope your family dies.'"

Nina Westbrook, wife of NBA veteran Russell Westbrook, said she received a message reading "I hope you both die in a car crash, dumb bitch," one of many threats she called routine. Rockets guard Fred VanVleet said an angry bettor once approached him at church. "It's the in-person one you gotta be careful for," VanVleet said.

Sports betting has expanded rapidly since the Supreme Court cleared the way for widespread state legalization in 2018, according to the New York Times. The NCAA launched its own anti-harassment campaign earlier this year, and the Big Ten's athletes commission asked the NCAA to push for limits on prop bets specifically because of the harassment problem.

Industry Response: We Already Do This

Joe Maloney, president of the Sports Betting Alliance, an industry group representing major sportsbooks, said in response that operators already have policies to suspend or ban abusive customers. "SBA members are investing in tools and partnerships that help identify bad actors and share information with leagues and other stakeholders," Maloney said, per the New York Times. "We welcome efforts by leagues, players and regulators to build on that work."

If sportsbooks already ban abusive accounts, the leagues' letter is partly about making that patchwork of individual company policies into an enforceable, state-mandated standard with a shared reporting system so a bettor banned by one operator can't just open an account with another. Whether existing self-policing has actually been effective is an open question the letter itself implicitly answers: no, not enough, since the leagues are asking for state-backed teeth behind it.

As of this writing, gaming regulators in the 35 states and D.C. that received the letter have not issued a public response, according to thecomeback.

The Hypocrisy Nobody's Hiding

These same leagues are deep in bed with the sportsbooks they're now asking regulators to crack down on. The NFL announced partnerships with FanDuel, DraftKings and Fanatics Betting and Gaming in August, according to Yahoo Sports. MLB has been partnered with FanDuel since 2023. The NBA runs an entire webpage listing its official gaming partners.

Leagues took the sponsorship money, built betting into every broadcast and app, and now they're asking the government to clean up the harassment that business model helped create. Nobody in these reports disputes that dynamic. The leagues aren't proposing to scale back betting partnerships or advertising. They're proposing better bans for people who cross the line after being marketed to nonstop.

WNBA Left Off the List

The letter did not include the WNBA, the NWSL or the PWHL. Terri Carmichael Jackson, executive director of the WNBA players union, said the exclusion wasn't the union's choice, and that the NBA decided not to include the WNBPA, according to Yahoo Sports and Front Office Sports.

"It is deeply disappointing that, given the very public and troubling incidents of betting-related harassment experienced by our members over the past several seasons, the NBA determined that WNBA players did not warrant inclusion in a joint position statement intended to address this very issue," Jackson said.

The National Women's Soccer League Players Association also said it was left out, according to the New York Times, though that report was cut off before detailing the union's full statement. Neither the NBA nor the other four leagues have publicly explained why women's leagues, whose players have also reported betting-related harassment, were excluded from a letter built around protecting athletes from exactly that harassment.

Whether state regulators actually adopt lifetime bans, and whether the men's leagues extend a similar invitation to the WNBA, NWSL and PWHL, remains unanswered as of September 16.