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Fanatics Sportsbook recently announced a partnership with Integrity Compliance 360 (IC360) and Signify Group to monitor social media for betting-related harassment and threats directed at athletes, coaches and officials.
The initiative, known as the “Bad Actor Program,” is designed to identify abusive behavior tied to sports betting activity and allow participating sportsbooks to suspend or permanently ban offending users. According to Fanatics, the program is expected to launch ahead of the 2026 football season.
The system combines Signify Group’s Threat Matrix technology, which tracks online abuse across public-facing social media platforms, with IC360’s new ProhiBet Bad Actor platform.
The program will monitor platforms including X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube for threatening or harassing posts aimed at athletes, coaches, teams and officials. In some cases, reports may also be referred to law enforcement.
The initiative expands on IC360’s existing ProhiBet system, which helps sportsbooks prevent athletes, coaches and other prohibited individuals from placing wagers. The new version focuses specifically on bettors accused of abusive online conduct.
Sports betting harassment draws increased scrutiny
As sports betting and social media have become increasingly intertwined, athletes and officials have faced a growing wave of harassment from angry bettors. NCAA studies and third-party monitoring groups have repeatedly documented abusive messages, threats and intimidation directed at players following gambling-related losses.
A February NCAA survey found that 51% of Division I men’s basketball athletes reported receiving social media abuse, while 46% said they had received threatening or negative messages from someone who bet on their games.
Some states have also responded legislatively. Louisiana’s new anti-harassment law is scheduled to take effect Aug. 1 and will allow penalties against bettors who threaten athletes or others connected to sporting events. West Virginia passed similar legislation in 2024.
Signify Group, which has worked with the NCAA and other sports organizations on online threat monitoring, previously reported that athletes accounted for a significant share of gambling-related abuse during major college sporting events. More recent findings showed an increase in abuse directed toward referees, coaches and NCAA tournament selection committee members.
Bad Actor Program and responsible sports betting impact
At its core, the Bad Actor Program reflects a broader push by sportsbooks and sports organizations to address the toxic behavior that has accompanied the rapid expansion of legalized sports betting.
Fanatics CEO Matt King also publicly encouraged other operators to join the initiative, framing the issue as an industrywide responsibility rather than a competitive advantage.
Still, questions remain about how the program will balance enforcement with consumer privacy. While the companies say the monitoring focuses on publicly available social media activity, the initiative could draw scrutiny over how customer information is identified, verified and shared between operators.
That concern comes at a time when data privacy remains a sensitive issue in online gambling. Critics will likely want greater transparency regarding how evidence is collected, how users are linked to sportsbook accounts and what safeguards exist to prevent misuse or false identification.
Even so, the broader objective is difficult to dispute: reducing threats and harassment aimed at athletes, coaches and officials. As legal sports betting continues to expand across the United States, the industry is increasingly being forced to confront the real-world consequences of abusive bettor behavior.
