Fanatics announced the launch of a Bad Actor Program in New Jersey and across the US to identify sports bettors who threaten or harass athletes, coaches, and officials online.
Under the program, participating sportsbooks can restrict wagering or suspend accounts for confirmed abusive, threatening, defamatory, or harassing conduct, with serious cases potentially referred to law enforcement.
The companies said the program is designed to monitor public-facing social media for abuse targeting athletes and coaches, identify offending bettors, and alert participating sportsbooks.
It combines Signify Group’s Threat Matrix monitoring service with IC360’s ProhiBet Bad Actor platform, using Threat Matrix to monitor public-facing activity across X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube.
The monitoring is intended to capture both direct and indirect abuse, including commentary in reply threads, reposts, and wider fan discourse. Athletes and officials can also submit abusive direct messages for investigation.
According to the program materials, Signify analyzes reported content, assesses severity, and escalates serious cases to in-house specialists for detailed investigation.
Where behavior appears to cross criminal thresholds, the team compiles evidence packs for referral to law enforcement agencies. The program also said it will share intelligence with sports leagues and teams so they can respond when athletes are targeted online.
Fanatics Sportsbook, described as the program’s first legal operator participant, said customers found to have engaged in abusive, threatening, defamatory, or harassing conduct could face account suspensions or permanent bans.
Fanatics Betting and Gaming CEO Matt King said the initiative would hold bettors accountable for threats made against players, coaches, and officials, and urged other operators to join. IC360 co-CEO Scott Sadin said threats and harassment directed at athletes are increasing and that identifying those responsible is crucial to protecting athletes and sports betting integrity.
The program’s rollout was described as starting at the beginning of the football season, with one report expecting it to launch at the start of NFL betting and college football betting.
