College Athletes Are Abuse Victims From ‘Angry Bettors,’ A New NCAA Study Says

In the least surprising news of the week, a recent study has found that college athletes are receiving an increasing amount of abuse from “angry bettors.” 

According to ESPN gambling writer David Purdum, the study by data science firm Signify Group describes “angry bettors” as people who “engage in problematic and intrusive communications due to match events and results contradicting bettors’ predictions.” 

Signify examined nearly 4,000 social media accounts of NCAA athletes, coaches, staff, and teams during several prominent college events in 2024, including March Madness, the College World Series, and the College Football Playoff. 

The study says 73% of the harassing messages based on gambling were cited during March Madness. Death threats and racist and homophobic slurs are among the harassment college athletes have faced. However, Signify assumes the harassment is worse since the scope of the study was limited to publicly made threats. 

Also, this is an ongoing problem. Only 20 of the 38 states where sports betting is legal offer player props in college sports. NCAA athletes face more harassment from gamblers losing on player props than picks to cover the spread or win the game, which was confirmed by the NCAA’s managing director of enterprise risk, Clint Hangebrauck. 

Unfortunately, this makes sense because I’m sure the worst of the losing bettors DM college athletes. And, as most of us have experienced personally, whether it is going to casinos and “cooking up parlays” with buddies, gambling brings out the worst in people. 

Look, this was always going to come with the legalization of sports betting. Is that a good thing? Of course, not. But, am I surprised? No. Perhaps bettors are more inclined to chirp an athlete they lost money on now that student-athletes can make NIL money. I’m not condoning or defending those losers, just providing additional context.

Regardless, verbally attacking college and professional athletes must stop. While betting brings more money, fans, and intrigue to these sports leagues, it cannot come at the cost of the athletes’ mental and physical well-being. 

It’s one thing to take your gambling losses out on your loved ones (Just kidding!), but harassing an athlete is unacceptable. 

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Follow me on X (or Twitter, whatever) @Geoffery-Clark and check out my OutKick Bets Podcast for more betting content and random rants.