US leagues back permanent bans for bettors who threaten athletes, as Brazil’s regulated sports betting market takes the same integrity debate

NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and MLS want state regulators in the US to back permanent bans for bettors who use violent threats or abusive harassment against athletes, referees, coaches and their families on licensed platforms. For PSPs and operators in regulated betting markets, the point is clear: integrity is no longer just about match-fixing.

1. The five major North American leagues, together with the players’ associations for those competitions, sent a joint letter to US state regulators this week. Their proposal would remove users found responsible for verified threats or harassment from licensed betting platforms.
2. The letter also calls for information-sharing between operators and regulators so banned bettors cannot simply open accounts with another authorized company. In practice, that means the exclusion list is not meant to stay trapped inside one brand’s CRM.
3. The leagues said the growth of legalized sports betting in the United States has been accompanied by more intimidation aimed at athletes and referees, especially around player prop bets. Those are wagers tied to individual performance stats rather than just the final score — goals, assists, cards, rebounds, and the rest of the box-score machinery.
4. The issue is now surfacing in Brazil as its regulated sports betting market consolidates. Alongside efforts against match manipulation and illegal operators, the integrity agenda is expanding to include protection for athletes, referees, coaches, and other people involved in competitions.
5. Marco Tulio Oliveira, CEO of Ana Gaming Brasil, said Brazil’s framework already places obligations on authorized operators around user identification, monitoring suspicious activity, and cooperation with the relevant authorities. He also drew a line between losing a bet and turning that loss into a threat against an athlete or family member, saying that once that line is crossed it becomes violence and a legal issue.

For high-risk operators, the operational takeaway is simple: integrity controls now have to cover abuse and intimidation, not just suspicious betting patterns. If a regulator starts asking how you identify, escalate, and share information on abusive users, “we only look for match-fixing” is not going to sound like a complete answer.