New Venmo-NCAA Partnership Aims to Protect College Athletes From Cyberbullying by Angry Bettors

Mobile payment provider Venmo has partnered with the NCAA to help combat the online harassment of athletes, a growing problem in both intercollegiate and professional sports in recent years.

The partnership comes amid a trend of angry gamblers using the platform to vent frustrations about losing bets on athletes. These incidents have become more prevalent, and in several cases, bitter bettors also requested refunds on Venmo.  

The NCAA has been vigilant in raising awareness of cyberbullying, rolling out various initiatives, including its “Don’t Be A Loser” campaign during March Madness earlier this year.

Key Components of Venmo-NCAA Partnership

The new partnership between Venmo and the NCAA, announced on Tuesday, was unveiled as the 2025-2026 college football season kicks off in earnest this week. Here are the key components:

• Reporting Hotline: Venmo is offering a dedicated hotline for student-athletes and the NCAA to report suspected abuse. The hotline will also help identify methods of athlete harassment occurring on the platform.
• Student-Athlete Resources: A “best practices guide” outlining safety measures and details on the reporting hotline will be distributed to student-athletes through NCAA channels, including newsletters and email communications.
• Athlete Account Support: Venmo will monitor student-athlete accounts to address spikes in activity tied to game performance. The company will then work directly with athletes to implement enhanced security measures when needed.
• User Education: Venmo will inform customers of the consequences of harassing athletes through unwanted payment requests, which may include account suspension or closure.

David Szuchman, senior vice president of Venmo parent company PayPal, noted that incidents of athlete harassment “make up an extremely small percentage of transactions on Venmo.”

But Szuchman added: “Even a small number of these incidents is unacceptable. The safety and security of our users remain our highest priority. Harassment or abuse of any kind is not tolerated on the platform, and strict action is taken against users who violate our policies.”

NCAA President Charlie Baker echoed those sentiments, saying: “The harassment we are seeing across various online platforms is unacceptable, and we need fans to do better. We applaud Venmo for taking action, and we need more social media companies and online platforms to do the same.”

Professional Sports Also Plagued by Cyberbullying

Pro athletes are also being barraged by cyberbullying based on their performance (or lack thereof) in games across various leagues.

Tennis player Elina Svitolina received online death threats after a straight-sets loss to Naomi Osaka this month in the National Bank Open in Montreal. Houston Astros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. received similar treatment earlier this year in MLB.

New Brooklyn Nets forward Michael Porter Jr. doesn’t see things improving any time soon in the digital age of sports betting. Porter Jr. argued that sports betting should be limited to physical venues, such as Las Vegas, rather than being available online.

That horse left the barn in 2018 when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down PASPA. There are no silver bullets when it comes to solutions, but partnerships such as the Venmo-NCAA collaboration can help mitigate online harassment of athletes.