A study commissioned by the NCAA revealed Tuesday that sports betting-related abuse remains one of the most common forms of online harassment targeting college athletes, coaches and officials.
Online abuse decreased by 22% year-on-year
According to Purdum, bets and match-related abuses in the nearly 4,000 messages marked by the study account for 11%. Sex (20%) and sexism (14%) are the most common categories of abuse.
These figures are the same as the previous year’s research scope.
Online abuse targeting athletes, coaches and officials fell 22% year-on-year. Purdum noted that women’s basketball has dropped significantly, and “men’s basketball has experienced huge growth.”
“The NCAA condemns all forms of online abuse and harassment,” Clint Hangebrauck, managing director of corporate risk management at NCAA, said in a statement to ESPN.
“The results of this year’s research suggest that the multi-layered strategy of NCAA is to build public awareness, advocate and collaborate with third parties is to have a positive impact and enhance our ability to combat abuse.”
NCAA, Venmo collaborates to curb harassment of college athletes
The NCAA also partnered with online payment processor Venmo this summer to combat abuse and harassment of college athletes on the platform.
Purdum added that this is a study commissioned by the NCAA for social media abuse targeting college athletes, coaches and officials. The study was conducted by the Simify group.
The study monitored seven championship games, including social media accounts with 5555 athletes, 625 coaches, 466 teams and 26 official NCAA channels during the 2024-25 academic year.
Meaning researchers found that 31 people were responsible for retaining serious content from the investigation. According to the NCAA, eight of them participated in sports betting.
The study found that seven abuse information met the harassment standards shared with law enforcement.
NCAA investigates betting violations by 13 former players
Last month, the NCAA announced that 13 male basketball players from six schools participated in gambling programs, including betting on their own teams, playing games and sharing information with third parties for gambling purposes.
Players previously linked to Eastern Michigan, Temple, Arizona, New Orleans, North Carolina A&T and Mississippi Valley State are still under investigation for gambling violations, according to the NCAA, and the company declined to name the athlete until the violation process ends.
“The NCAA monitors 22,000 games a year and will continue to actively pursue competitive integrity risks like this,” said NCAA President Charlie Baker. “I thank the NCAA law enforcement team for their relentless work and the school’s collaboration on these issues.
“The rise of sports betting is to create more opportunities for athletes of all kinds of sports to participate in this unacceptable behavior, and while legitimate sports betting stays here, regulators and gaming companies can reduce these integrity risks by eliminating prop betting and making sports take a seat on the table when developing policies.”
Betting accounts related to gambling rings under federal investigations have made bookmakers bets on Eastern Michigan, Temple, North Carolina A&T, New Orleans and Mississippi Valley states suspicious.
