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FIRST ON FOX – The sports betting industry is taking a big step forward in protecting athletes and preserving the integrity of the game with an innovative policy that holds bettors accountable for threats made against players, coaches and officials.
BetMGM will launch a new “Athlete Anti-Harassment Policy” this week that will allow the betting operator to permanently suspend or terminate a customer’s account if they are determined to have engaged “in abusive, threatening, defamatory or harassing conduct of any kind toward sports officials, coaches, athletes or any other individual related to sporting events.”
The “zero tolerance” policy comes at a time when players have been vocal about the rise in online harassment amid the rise of sports betting.
The sportsbook at the Circa Resort & Hotel before Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas, Nevada, on February 10, 2024. (Mario Hommes/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
Rhea Loney, chief compliance officer at BetMGM, spoke with Pak Gazette Digital in an exclusive interview about the new policy and explained the motivation behind the need for more explicit protections for players and other sports figures.
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“Harassment of athletes tied to betting outcomes is not something any of us should accept. Athletes being criticized, you know, that comes with the job,” Loney explained, “but when it comes to threats, abuse, intimidation, that’s just different. And threats, abuse, intimidation and harassment, they hurt people. They undermine the integrity of sport.”
Social media has become a major factor in this issue, as fans and bettors have access to players more easily than ever. During the summer, Boston Red Sox Pitcher Lucas Giolito said he raised the issue directly with MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred.
Boston Red Sox starter Lucas Giolito leaves a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs during the sixth inning at Wrigley Field on July 18, 2025. (Images by Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn)
“When it comes to gambling, it has obviously created an increase in the number of demented people online; well, not demented, just disaffected,” he told “Baseball is not boring” podcast in July. “I get messages after every game, even games where I pitch well and they hit me because I hit the strikeout instead of being under, or I was under instead of being up, like prop bets, all these crazy things. And people put hundreds of dollars into it and they don’t have a lot of money, but they play it anyway because it’s a disease. They get scared.”
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Loney said that no matter whether those threats are made online, through social media or in person, the definitions of harassment are clear to BetMGM.
“We’re going to look into this and look at the conduct that’s reported to us. And I think there’s a clear line: There’s a clear line between fan enthusiasm and then there’s a clear line between threats of violence and racial slurs or when fans say horrible things to athletes because of a certain score in a game.”
“We are not going to tolerate that,” he continued. “And those are going to be the individuals that we’re going to take action against, and we don’t want them on our sports betting platform. We don’t want them to be our customers because they’re undermining the integrity of the game.”
Loney said the more information that is provided about the complaint, the more BetMGM will be able to investigate and determine if that person has an account. Complaints can be filed with state law enforcement and regulators, BetMGM customer service, and through an anonymous hotline. Once BetMGM has enough information, it will begin an investigation.
Loney said that no matter whether those threats are made online, through social media or in person, the definitions of harassment are clear to BetMGM. (PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images)
“We, as a legal market, know a lot of information about our clients because they have to go through very extensive KYC procedures. We know names, we know addresses, we know emails and these are all the requirements for participants to register and be in the legal and regulated market. So based on the information we take from the investigation report that is sent to us, we will see if we can identify the social media account in your example, who sent the DM. We can also work with our regulators and the authorities as well for them depending on the nature of the complaint and the nature of the threat. We would work with our regulators and authorities as well and it is possible that they may have other avenues to help us besides what we have internally at BetMGM.”
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In June, Texas police identified a man abroad as the culprit who allegedly threatened to kill Houston Astros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. and his family in May. Police said the man was “intoxicated” when he made the threats on social media after losing money on a bet.
The Astros hired security for McCullers and his family. McCullers said she had a hard time explaining the situation to her 5-year-old daughter.
“She asked me when I got home, ‘Dad, what are the threats? Who wants to hurt us? Who wants to hurt me?'” McCullers told The Associated Press at the time. “So those conversations are difficult to manage.”
Lance McCullers Jr. #43 of the Houston Astros reacts by allowing three runs against the Philadelphia Phillies during the fifth inning of Game 3 of the 2022 World Series at Citizens Bank Park on November 1, 2022 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
The policy change will explicitly focus on these types of incidents.
Loney explained that while BetMGM has always reserved the right to hold sports bettors accountable, this new policy makes its position clear.
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“I think what we wanted to do is make this a lot more explicit and while we have the general ability to have suspensions in our previous terms of service, what we wanted to say and we wanted to say to the fan base, to the sports bettors, is that we really want to emphasize that this is zero tolerance.
“We want to make this explicitly clear and so we changed it to make it more explicitly clear and to hopefully send the message that this is zero tolerance, so I think we changed it to make sure that it was clear that this is not going to be something that we will tolerate and to send that message to sports fans and bettors and also to promote integrity within our industry, promote respect, integrity and deter this type of conduct that has been occurring.”
