Venmo and NCAA Partner to Combat Betting-Related Harassment of Student-Athletes

A Growing Problem Fueled by Betting

The collaboration addresses a specific and troubling form of online abuse. While general online harassment is on the rise, athletes face a unique challenge directly linked to the expansion of sports betting.

A recent NCAA study highlighted the scale of the issue, finding that 12% of all abusive content directed at college athletes is related to sports betting. That figure rises to 19% for men’s football. On Venmo, this harassment often takes the form of users sending payment requests to athletes, essentially demanding a refund for a lost bet.

“While unwanted interactions to athletes make up an extremely small percentage of transactions on Venmo, even a small number of these incidents is unacceptable,” said David Szuchman, a Senior Vice President at Venmo’s parent company, PayPal. “Harassment or abuse of any kind is not tolerated on the platform.”

A Multi-Pronged Approach to Protection

The new initiative implements several concrete measures to combat this behavior.

• A Reporting Hotline: Venmo is establishing a dedicated hotline that the NCAA and student-athletes can use to report potential cases of abuse. This will allow for direct investigation and help the company identify patterns of harassment.
• Student-Athlete Education: The company will create and distribute a best practices guide to help student-athletes stay safe on the platform. This guide, which will include details on the new hotline, will be sent directly to athletes through official NCAA channels.
• Proactive Account Monitoring: Venmo will actively monitor student-athletes’ accounts to help reduce a sudden influx of payment requests following a game. The company will also work directly with athletes to implement additional security measures as needed.
• User Education and Enforcement: Venmo will educate its general user base about the potential consequences of harassing athletes, which can include account closure.

A Call for Broader Industry Action

The partnership has been praised by the NCAA, which sees it as a positive step in a much larger fight.

“The harassment we are seeing across various online platforms is unacceptable, and we need fans to do better,” said NCAA President Charlie Baker. “We applaud Venmo for taking action, and we need more social media companies and online platforms to do the same.”

Baker noted that stopping this type of abuse “requires action on multiple fronts,” including legislative efforts in states that have passed laws to crack down on the harassment of athletes. The collaboration between a major payment platform and a powerful sports governing body represents a significant new front in that ongoing effort.