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Draw The Line

Sports betting is everywhere – your friends, family and classmates are placing bets, ads are impossible to miss, and the prevalence of harassment from angry fans who lost a bet continues to increase. 

The NCAA launched a new video as part of the Draw the Line campaign titled, “Don’t be a Loser,” calling on fans to curb abuse directed at you and your teammates. College athletics is no place for harassment. You should be supported and celebrated for your academic and athletic achievements, not targeted with threats and abuse by Losers.    

It is time we Draw the Line and put an end to the abuse.  

According to a 2024 study conducted by Signify Group: More than 72,000 messages were flagged by their AI-based algorithm from a wider dataset of 1.3 million posts/comments targeted at the social media profiles of student-athletes, coaches and officials taking part in the championship events. Below are key data points:

More than 5,000

Posts verified as containing abusive, discriminatory or threatening content.

12%

Of all abuse was related to sports betting, with more than 740 instances.

19%

Rates of betting-related harassment in men's basketball and football.

80%

Abuse directed at March Madness student-athletes.

3x

More threats were directed at women’s basketball student-athletes compared to men’s.

1,400+

Abusive messages targeted a single student-athlete in under two weeks.

90%

Of harassment is generated online or through social media.

16

Categories of online abuse and threats were identified.

More than 39

States have legal sports betting markets.



To learn more about the NCAA’s sports betting efforts, on campus e-learning resources, membership toolkit, and initiatives visit ncaa.org/SportsBetting.

For resources related to problem gambling or treatment, please visit the National Council of Problem Gambling or contact them directly.

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