The five biggest leagues just demanded lifetime sportsbook bans for anyone who threatens athletes over a lost bet, and they left the WNBA standing outside the room. NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS and their unions dropped that joint letter Tuesday to regulators in 35 states plus D.C. They called themselves the five largest. The women who have been catching the worst of the betting venom for seasons never got a seat.
I know the reply already forming. The WNBA is smaller, the money is different, MLS somehow made the cut. Spare me. The harassment is not theoretical for these players. It is in their DMs every night after a bad cover.
The NBA Owns the Stake and Still Left Its Own Players Out
WNBPA executive director Terri Carmichael Jackson did not hedge. “It is deeply disappointing that, given the very public and troubling incidents of betting-related harassment experienced by our members over the past several seasons, the NBA determined that WNBA players did not warrant inclusion in a joint position statement intended to address this very issue.”
The NBA owns about 42 percent of the WNBA. They share New York offices. Yet somehow the league that sits in the same building decided its own players did not warrant the same protection it demanded for the men’s side. That is not a paperwork glitch. That is a value judgment delivered in real time.
The letter itself is solid on the substance. “Too often, individuals who lose sports bets direct threatening and harassing messages toward players, coaches and their families via social media and in-person interactions.” It adds that threatening safety over a sports bet “crosses a bright ethical and criminal line, and it is entirely unacceptable.” Exactly right. Now explain why those sentences stop applying the second the athlete is a woman.
These Players Already Lived the Threat the Letter Describes
Jonquel Jones said it out loud last month: “With the sports betting, I think the type of comments that we’re getting online has been horrendous. We have to find a way to protect players.” Natasha Cloud went further. “I’m called a bitch, I’m called a n*****, I’m called everything under the sun. I’ve been told that they hope that our plane crashes on the way home.” Courtney Williams clapped back at a gambler who blew up her Instagram after a missed parlay. This is the environment the big five decided did not require a signature.
NWSLPA executive director Meghann Burke only found out about the memo through media calls after it dropped. Her statement backed protections for both men’s and women’s athletes. The PWHL never even got a mention. The pattern is the same across women’s leagues: the money is growing, the betting volume is climbing, and the safety infrastructure still treats them like an afterthought.
I am not against the ban. Lifetime exclusion from legal books for verified harassers is the floor, not the ceiling. Streamlined reporting across states is overdue. Four states already have some version of bad-actor exclusions. Expanding that should be automatic. The problem is the selective guest list. You cannot claim the threat is “escalating” and then leave out the athletes who have been documenting it in real time.
Sportsbooks will feel this. The same operators who love the handle on WNBA props now have to explain why the athletes generating that handle were cut out of the protection ask. Regulators in those 35 states just received a letter that pretends half the professional athletes in the country do not exist. That optics problem is not going away because the big five preferred a cleaner photo op.
The joint letter went out Tuesday without them. The threats did not wait for an invitation, and neither should the next version of this policy.
