NCAA and Venmo partner to address harassment of athletes

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The NCAA and Venmo have entered a partnership aiming to end harassment of college athletes, including unwanted payment requests from losing bettors and solicitation for inside information.

According to ESPN, the agreement includes a hotline for athletes to report abuse, education on account security, and enhanced monitoring of social media trends during high-profile game instances. The hotline has been operational since Tuesday.

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NCAA Managing Director of Enterprise Risk Management Clint Hangebrauck said, “We have heard of solicitation of insider information as well, ‘Hey, can you let me know if you’re going to play or not, and I’ll provide you some money,’ which is obviously really problematic for us from an integrity standpoint.”

NCAA research showed that nearly 20% of online abuse directed at basketball and football players is tied to sports betting. Most incidents on Venmo involve gamblers sending athletes requests for money after losing bets.

David Szuchman, senior vice president at PayPal, Venmo’s parent company, described the conduct as infrequent but “unacceptable.” He added, “Harassment or abuse of any kind is not tolerated on the platform, and strict action is taken against users who violate our policies.”

Athletes have spoken publicly about receiving payment requests from gamblers, and Hangebrauck said the partnership could serve as “a blueprint” for outreach to other social media platforms.

The NCAA is currently discussing whether to allow staff and athletes to bet on professional sports, despite backlash from industry stakeholders.

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2025/06/12: Scottie Scheffler closes Venmo account following harassment by sports bettors 2025/05/21: Athletes to be protected from negative prop bets, NCAA reveals 2025/06/26: NCAA council recommends allowing college athletes to bet on pro sports 2025/04/28: NCAA announces extended partnership with Genius Sports