Olympian Gabby Thomas harassed by gambler trying to win sports bet
U.S. Olympic gold medalist Gabby Thomas (pictured above) has reported being verbally abused by a gambler during the Grand Slam Track meet in Philadelphia last weekend. The man admitted to deliberately trying to upset her enough to affect her performance and win a parlay he had placed.
As reported by , Thomas was followed by a man shouting insults while she was taking photographs with fans and signing autographs. A separate video circulating on social media shows a spectator yelling, Youre a choke artist C youre going down, Gabby, as she prepared to race. The individual later posted a screenshot of a winning parlay bet, adding: I made Gabby lose by heckling her. And it made my parlay win.
Gabby Thomas received a lot of support from the athletic community, including NBC Sports commentator and former 10,000m world silver medallist Kara Goucher: Thank you for pointing out this disgusting behaviour. You are exposing the crap that women go through and will eventually help other women as well, she wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
A widespread phenomenon
While such harassment is not new, athletes and commentators are increasingly concerned about the role social media and betting culture can play in amplifying abusive fan behaviour. Though most sports fans and bettors engage respectfully, the growing accessibility of betting marketsparticularly on individual player performancehas made athletes more vulnerable to targeted criticism when expectations are not met.
This is especially evident in U.S. college sports, where younger, non-professional athletes have been subjected to online abuse after games. Some states, including Ohio, Maryland, and Vermont, have already implemented restrictions or outright bans on prop bets involving college athletes to curb such behaviour.
Protecting our athletes must remain the priority, said Tim Buckley, the U.S. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Senior Vice President for External Affairs. The NCAA retains the right to terminate any sportsbooks data license if integrity protections are violated.
‘Keep your cool’
Industry leaders are not ignoring the problem. The American Gaming Association (AGA) has launched a Keep Your Cool campaign aimed at educating fans about respectful behaviour toward athletes and the importance of integrity in betting. Rather than calling for sweeping bans, the AGA supports a more measured approach: raising awareness, improving moderation on digital platforms, and working with operators to report abusive behaviour.
Globally, some regulators have taken stronger steps. In France, the National Gambling Authority (ANJ) prohibits wagers on non-sporting elements such as the colour of a players socks or whether the number of goals is even or odd, arguing such bets carry greater risks of problem gambling or match-fixing.
Still, many industry experts caution that banning entire betting categories may simply drive activity to unregulated offshore platforms, which offer fewer protections for both bettors and athletes.
