Venmo is hoping to help keep disgruntled sports bettors from harassing college players.
Key Takeaways
- The online payment platform launched a hotline Tuesday for NCAA athletes to report harassment from sports bettors.
- Venmo will monitor accounts and must report illegal activities to law enforcement.
- The NCAA has become proactive in recent years in protecting college players from online abuse.
The PayPal-owned mobile payment platform announced on Tuesday that it is working with the NCAA to provide numerous protection measures. College athletes have reported being sent payment requests from losing bettors following games.
David Szuchman, senior vice president of PayPal, head of global financial crime and customer protection, said that while the requests to NCAA athletes make up an “extremely small percentage of transactions,” it’s still “unacceptable.”
“The safety and security of our users remain our highest priority,” Szuchman said in a statement. “Harassment or abuse of any kind is not tolerated on the platform, and strict action is taken against users who violate our policies. Through these measures, we are taking decisive steps to help prevent the misuse of our platform and ensure all our users feel protected when they use Venmo.”
Szuchman said the company is federally required to report illegal activity to law enforcement, according to ESPN.
Taking action
Venmo launched a reporting hotline Tuesday, according to ESPN, for college athletes to report potential abuse for harassment investigations. The payment platform is distributing an information guide, including newsletters, emails, and learning modules, on how to use the service.
Venmo will also educate on what happens after harassment has occurred, including account closures. Venmo said it will monitor the student-athletes’ accounts “on an ongoing basis to help mitigate an influx of requests based on game performance.” The company will use additional security measures “as needed.”
Former Auburn quarterback Payton Thorne chronicled requests he’s received during an interview last fall, a rising trend in pro sports as well. While Thorne said he tries to block it out, disgruntled sports bettors are coming at athletes from “all different angles.”
“They're definitely not sending cash," Thorne said. “It's funny. When they lose money, they want their money back. But when they win money on a parlay, no one's ever sent me any of the money.”
Being proactive
The NCAA noted in an October 2024 study that sports betting is linked to 12% of targeted harassment, and nearly 19% of abuse cases reported in football involve sports bettors.
This has led to the college sports governing body taking a much more proactive approach to online abuse after athletes have reported disturbing messages on social media.
“The harassment we are seeing across various online platforms is unacceptable, and we need fans to do better,” NCAA president Charlie Baker said. “We applaud Venmo for taking action, and we need more social media companies and online platforms to do the same. Several states have passed laws to crack down on this behavior to protect student-athletes, and we hope more do the same because stopping this abuse requires action on multiple fronts.”
Call for change
Baker called for state sports betting regulators to ban college player prop markets in March 2024, citing the abuse players receive from sports bettors when NCAA athletes don’t reach their betting stat lines.
Maryland, Ohio, Louisiana, and Vermont complied with Baker’s request. More than half of all legal sports betting states still allow sportsbooks to offer NCAA player prop markets.
Sports betting has grown to 38 U.S. states and Washington, D.C., since PASPA was overturned in 2018. Missouri will become the 40th legal wagering jurisdiction when online and retail sportsbooks launch there Dec. 1.
