KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Colorado is the latest state looking to crack down on bettors who harass athletes.
- The state’s gaming regulators want the authority to ban anyone found to have threatened sports personnel, their families, or gaming establishment staff.
- Major sports leagues wrote to gaming regulators across the U.S. in September to urge them to take stronger, unified action against abusive bettors.
Colorado gaming regulators want to ban any bettors who threaten athletes or their families, as well as other sports- and gaming-related personnel.
The Colorado Division of Gaming proposed changes to Limited Gaming Rule 29 that would authorize the Limited Gaming Control Commission (LGCC) to place anyone found to have threatened athletes, coaches, staff, or certain other individuals on the state’s involuntary exclusion list.
Commission members introduced the measure at a stakeholder workshop on Thursday, Nov. 12. A public comment period is now open, and the regulator will hold a formal vote after reviewing comments.
What would Colorado sports betting rule change do?
If ratified, the Colorado Division of Gaming rule change would allow the LGCC to consider potential forced exclusion of anyone found to have threatened physical harm to:
- An athlete or an athlete’s immediate family member
- A sports governing body or one of its employees
- A sports team staff member or coach, or their immediate family members
- Any staff member or patron of a licensed gaming or sports betting establishment in the state
- Any Division of Gaming staff member
The updated Colorado regulation would also allow the division to consider banning any person found to have violated the state’s “conflict of interest” gaming law. That law stipulates that athletes, coaches, player agents, or any person with access to nonpublic information may not bet on sporting events overseen by that person’s sports governing body.
Another proposed update to the Colorado gaming regulations would allow the LGCC to consider banning any person who has “manipulated or compromised the integrity of gaming activities or sports betting activities.”
Division of Gaming Supervisory Investigator Chris Krieger said during Thursday’s workshop that Colorado regulators have heard many times from sports leagues about issues related to athlete harassment and match-fixing, and want to “make sure we are having a meaningful impact.”
Colorado establishes harassment reporting scheme
Krieger also said during the workshop that the Division of Gaming set up a Google Form for athletes and other sports participants to report and provide evidence of instances of harassment, abuse, or threats.
“Our goal is to increase reporting from athletes about harassment they might be receiving,” added Krieger. “Speaking to the leagues and others, one of the biggest battles they fight is getting people to report these issues.
“So, we want to make it clear that we can handle investigation and get the reporting done.”
States, leagues look for decisive action on betting abuse
Insider betting and match manipulation are top-of-mind issues for professional and college sports and the gaming industry, amid high-profile incidents in recent years including Jontay Porter’s lifetime NBA ban and the pitch-rigging scandal involving Cleveland Guardians pitchers.
Harassment and abuse related to betting are major concerns for leagues, legislators, and gaming regulators. States including Louisiana passed legislation to allow their gambling regulators to ban bettors found to have harassed athletes.
In one high-profile incident in October, the Ohio Casino Control Commission (OCCC) placed a man on its involuntary exclusion list after the person made verbal threats against Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider during the 2025 World Series. The OCCC worked with Major League Baseball to investigate the incident, wherein the man phoned an MLB customer support line and made references to physical violence against Schneider and sending the manager to the hospital.
In September, a coalition of pro sports leagues and players’ associations, including MLB, wrote to state regulators across the U.S. urging them to implement stricter punishments for bettors who harass athletes online or in person.
Among what leagues and players called for were lifetime bans and shared multi-state exclusion lists, as well as a standardized reporting framework to make it easier for players, sports organizations, and other related personnel to document instances of betting-related abuse.
Gaming operators take steps to combat abuse
Legislators and regulators are not the only ones taking action in an attempt to quash betting-related abuse. Gambling operators have also implemented their own measures.
- BetMGM announced a zero-tolerance policy for abuse in February 2026, vowing to immediately suspend customer accounts where necessary.
- Fanatics Sportsbook, IC360, and data company Signify Group unveiled their Bad Actor Program in June 2026, described as “the first industry network designed to identify, alert, and prevent bad actors from creating accounts or placing wagers.”
- In October, the NCAA became the first sports organization to join that initiative, which has expanded to also include DraftKings, as well as sports prediction markets operators Kalshi and Novig.
