College athletes in the Buckeye State could soon have an easy way to report sports bettors who slide into DMs to hurl abuse — and those gamblers may ultimately find themselves barred from wagering in Ohio.
The Ohio Casino Control Commission met Wednesday and heard about a few initiatives in the works aimed at curbing online harassment of college athletes, an issue the regulator has had on its radar for some time.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has also taken an interest, including by backing a budget making clear that anyone who “threatens violence or harm against any person who is involved in the sporting event, where the threat is related to sports gaming” could be banned from play.
Representatives from the Ohio Casino Control Commission met recently with DeWine, who “has expressed from the very beginning a deep concern with the vulnerable populations” in connection with sports betting, executive director Matthew Schuler said Wednesday. That includes college athletes.
“We know people have been betting on college athletes for a long time, but now that it's legal, it's been a free game out there on social media,” Schuler said. “And so [DeWine] has been very concerned about that and also, I think, very pleased with where the commission's head is in terms of initiatives.”
‘Suck it up, buttercup’
Amanda Blackford, the commission’s director of operations and problem gambling services, then outlined a few of those efforts, some of which will prompt the state to issue request-for-proposals from the private sector.
“Athletic departments are saying that they feel like the pressure is on the athlete to handle everything,” Blackford noted. “That when they have an issue, whether it's harassment, or just stress, when they come forward, they hear, you know, ‘Suck it up, buttercup,’ for lack of a better word.”
One initiative the commission is “looking at” is an app that will allow athletes to report harassment anonymously or openly, Blackford said. The same app would offer education modules for players and a portal athletes could use to access telehealth services.
The commission is also interested in developing an "athlete abuse awareness campaign," Blackford said.
“It will be a campaign that's speaking directly to the bettor ... humanizing the athletes themselves,” she added. “So showing that these are students, speaking out against harassment, hopefully, stigmatizing harassment.”
Life in the bubble
The initiatives in Ohio are being developed as legal sports betting continues to expand in the U.S., including wagering on college football, basketball, and other events involving younger athletes.
For instance, microbetting provider Simplebet reported on Wednesday that wagering on markets such as the next drive in college football was up 120% during this year’s regular season compared to last. That doesn’t even cover the more meat-and-potatoes markers of sides and totals that draw most of the action for college sports.
College athletes can also find themselves in some uniquely vulnerable situations. Pro athletes go home after a game to mansions or condominiums, maybe; college athletes go back to a residence and then to class where they may come face-to-face with people who are betting on their performance.
“With professional athletes, there's a bit of a bubble there,” Blackford said on Wednesday. “There's layers of protection. And that's not the case when it comes to these college students. So they're getting a crazy amount of pressure put on them. They're hearing things from their peers, from the people that they're constantly surrounded with, like, ‘You cost me my rent money.’”
Artificial intelligence, but real information
The Ohio Casino Control Commission is not the only entity trying to give college athletes some assistance. The NCAA announced earlier this week that it hired an artificial intelligence firm to help study and respond to online harassment of athletes and coaches.
That research will include "analysis of abuse related to sports betting," a press release noted. It also comes after a recent survey of campus administrators found that 10% of respondents from Division 1 schools were aware of student-athletes who were harassed online or in person in connection with gambling.
“This is a first-of-its-kind project in college sports focusing on online abuse and threats, while arming social platforms and law enforcement to take action to protect thousands of student-athletes and all championship participants,” NCAA president Charlie Baker said in a press release. “This pilot is just the start of much broader online protection measures the NCAA will put in place to guide our longer-term strategy in this crucial space."
