FanDuel is taking a major step towards fighting the harassment of athletes by aggrieved gamblers with the banning of a player who heckled Olympic gold medalist Gabby Thomas during a recent event. The unnamed player, whose identity hasn’t yet been posted video of his actions on X with a caption saying, “it made my parlay win.”
Not surprisingly, Thomas had a different take on what happened during last weekend’s Grand Slam Track event in Philadelphia in her own X posting saying that the man, “This grown man followed me around the track as I took pictures and signed autographs for fans (mostly children) shouting personal insults- anybody who enables him online is gross.”
The FanDuel bettor has not been named but posts under the user name mr100kaday self identifies as “the track and field bully”. He had a different take on the events saying, “I made Gabby lose by heckling her. And it made my parlay win.”
The track and field bully’s bragging, and posting of his parlay ticket, caught the attention of FanDuel officials who promptly shuttered his account. In a statement made to ESPN.com company officials said, “FanDuel condemns in the strongest terms abusive behavior directed towards athletes. Threatening or harassing athletes is unacceptable and has no place in sports. This customer is no longer able to wager with FanDuel.”
Harassment of players by sports bettors is a growing issue in the United States that was, seemingly, not anticipated by sportsbooks or regulators but is an absolutely massive problem – especially online. Arrests and consequences of any kind are rare and mr100kaday’s banning is a rare moment of justice for athletes who have endured this kind of abuse.