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No place is sacred when it comes to confronting athletes over lost player performance bets (also known as player props) it seems.
That includes church.
In a shock interview, Houston Rockets starter Fred VanVleet claims he was harassed while attending a Sunday church service.
That interview took place ahead of the weekend's NBA All Star Game on the Club 520 podcast:
Club 520: “Has any fans got on your nerves about you messing up their parlays? Man, they hit your DMs?”
VanVleet: “The internet don’t bother me, it’s the ‘in person’ one [fan interaction] you’ve got to be careful for. I had somebody run down on me in church.”
Club 520: “Wow. In the Lord’s House!”
VanVleet: “‘N***a, you f***ed up my parlay.’ In church! I said, ‘Damn.’ $3,000. It was some youngin’. I couldn’t believe it. It’s real out here.”
Athletes Targets of Abuse by Sports Gamblers
The National Collegiate Athletic Association in 2024 partnered with Signify, a group that monitors online abuse, for their “Draw the Line” campaign.
Its findings:
80% of abusive messages were targeted at student athletes during March Madness.
Twelve percent of the abuse was related to sports betting.
And it's not just the male athletes that are being targeted.
Women’s basketball student athletes fared far worse.
Abuse was three times more likely with these female athletes.
Professional golfer Scottie Scheffler had to delete his Venmo account because people were constantly sending him money requests after he didn’t hit certain betting lines.
Fellow professional golfer Max Homa claims he, too, was receiving demands for money via Venmo for failing to meet his performance prop bets.
And NHL player Brady Tkachuk had to change his name and phone on Venmo for the same reason.
“Do you really think I care about your parlay?” Tkachuk said of the requests in general from bettors, adding that most requests were related to small prop bets like shots on goal.
Some States Taking Action
New York lawmakers have previously considered Anti-Harassment bills that would penalize fans and bettors from harassing athletes while Louisiana, Maryland, Ohio and Vermont have banned player prop bets altogether. A number of others have specifically banned college player props.
The Washington state Senate passed a sports betting bill that prohibits bets on individual athletes’ performance, even if it allows wagering on team results. The sponsor said this was meant to protect student athletes from harassment and integrity issues.
- Alejandro Botticelli, Gambling911.com
