BetMGM announced on Monday that it was updating its terms of service to specifically prohibit users from harassing athletes, a move that the US sports betting operator ​framed as part of a wider crackdown on sports integrity and player safety.

Under the revised terms, BetMGM said it will suspend a user’s account if the user is found to have used any harassing or abusive language towards athletes, coaches and other team or league personnel.

The company said its previous terms already allowed it to suspend accounts for any lawful reason, including harassment, but that the new language aims to provide clearer standards.

“Any confirmed case of harassment will result in decisive action, including account suspension,” Rhea Loney, BetMGM’s Chief Compliance Officer, it is stated in the press release.

BetMGM is among the operating brands in Ontario’s regulated gaming market and a company spokesperson confirmed to CBC News that the updated terms of service apply to its customers in the Canadian province.

‘No place’ for harassment

Barry Sanders, a Pro Football Hall of Fame running back and BetMGM ambassador, said the update sends a message that harassment has “no place in sports or sports betting.”

BetMGM has linked the rule update to its wider “responsible gambling initiatives”, which include educational messages at 10 football stadiums across the country.

American, three-time Olympic gold medalist Gabby Thomas said last year that she was verbally abused by a bettor at a Grand Slam Track event.

In 2024, tennis’s main governing bodies launched a crackdown on online abuse following the release of a report which attributed almost half of abusive posts on social media to angry ⁠gamers.

Former world number three Elina Svitolina said she was inundated with online abuse, including death threats, after losing at the Canadian Open in August and blamed “disgraceful” behavior to dissatisfied bettors.