The NCAA is the first sport governing body to publicly join the Bad Actor Program, which helps sportsbooks ban bettors who threaten athletes, coaches and officials on social media.
Fanatics became the first sportsbook to join when IC 360 and Signify Group launched the program in June to identify bettors who harass athletes online.
“Athlete harassment has no place in college sports,” NCAA President Charlie Baker said in a statement. “The NCAA is committed to working with stakeholders across the sports betting ecosystem to eradicate this horrific behavior that plagues sports far too often.”
The NCAA’s move follows similar pressure from pro sports. The five major U.S. pro sports leagues called on states to adopt uniform rules permanently banning bettors for abusive online behavior.
Reports of online abuse in college sports
The Bad Actor Program pairs social media monitoring with a shared database of abusive bettors. Signify’s Threat Matrix flags threats against athletes, coaches and officials, and IC360 places the people behind those accounts on a list sportsbooks can use to restrict or close accounts. The NCAA’s own research shows how often that abuse traces back to betting.
The NCAA’s first study identified more than 5,000 verified abusive, discriminatory or threatening social media posts directed at NCAA championship participants. Posts linked to sports betting accounted for 12% of all verified abuse, a figure that increased to 19% for men’s basketball. The study also found women’s basketball student-athletes received about three times more threats than men’s basketball players.
The NCAA’s 2025 GOALS study found 51% of Division I men’s basketball student-athletes reported social media abuse tied to their athletic performance, while 46% received negative or threatening messages from someone who bet on their game.
“Online harassment monitoring and student-athlete surveys have provided crucial data on the volume, nature and sources of online abuse,” said Clint Hangebrauck, NCAA managing director of enterprise risk management. He added that the data has supported reporting and enforcement actions when threats were identified, particularly harassment tied to betting.
The NCAA also works with Venmo to identify and disrupt betting related threats on the platform. The partnership includes a reporting hotline, a student-athlete safety best practices guide, account support and broader user education.
Fanatics wants other operators to join
Fanatics remains the only sportsbook publicly participating in the Bad Actor Program, which means a bettor flagged by the network can still wager at operators that haven’t signed on.
“We encourage other operators to join the initiative because there is no sports betting potential loss that should embolden a sports betting customer to threaten or harass an athlete online,” Fanatics Betting and Gaming CEO Matt King said in June.
States taking action against harassment
Baker has been an advocate for participant safety, especially online. The NCAA president called for a nationwide ban on college player prop betting in 2024, arguing the bets contribute to harassment. Twenty-two states allow college props in some form, and Michigan, West Virginia, Nevada and Missouri have no restrictions.
Some states have taken matters into their own hands. Ohio became the first state to reverse course and ban college player props in 2024. The state also put the first person on its Sports Gaming Involuntary Exclusion List for threatening physical harm toward Blue Jays manager John Schneider during the 2025 World Series.
West Virginia and Louisiana have also passed bills that allow regulators to exclude bettors who harass athletes, with potential felony charges for offenders.
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission, meanwhile, launched “Bet on Respect,” an operator backed system that lets leagues, players and the public report suspected harassment.
