Placing Their Bets Against Athletes: A Latent Profile Analysis of Sports Bettors Who Cyberbully Athletes

Background/Purpose: The rapid growth of online sports betting, paired with unrestricted athlete access through social media, has created a growing public health concern: gambling-related cyberbullying as a form of technology-facilitated interpersonal violence. High-profile examples include athletes receiving hostile messages and financial demands from bettors following poor performance. While prior research links online harassment to depression, anxiety, substance use, and suicidal ideation, less is known about individuals who perpetrate athlete-targeted cyberbullying within sports betting contexts. The NCAA has identified sports betting culture, particularly prop betting, as a growing threat to athletes' mental health and safety. This study addresses a critical gap by examining the profiles and predictors of sports bettors who engage in cyberbullying behaviors toward athletes.

Methods: This presentation reports findings from a national study of 1,013 self-identified sports fans who participate in sports betting, examining betting participation and frequency, as well as self-reported cyberbullying behaviors toward athletes. Data were collected through a national Qualtrics panel. Survey measures included a researcher-developed cyberbullying instrument adapted from the Cyberbullying Scale of Sports Audience (Karaca, 2019), assessing behaviors such as posting negative messages, sending hostile direct messages, sharing harmful images, targeting athletes based on race or sexuality, making violent threats, and messaging athletes to influence game outcomes.

A latent profile analysis (LPA) identified subgroups based on engagement in negative online behaviors following betting outcomes. Models with one to four profiles were estimated; a three-profile solution was selected based on fit indices and interpretability. Multinomial logistic regression was then conducted with profile membership as the dependent variable and negative gambling experiences, monthly expenditure, betting frequency, mood-based betting, age, and income as predictors.

Results: A three-profile solution emerged reflecting low, moderate, and high engagement in sports-related cyberbullying. Individuals reporting negative gambling experiences were significantly more likely to belong to both the high bullying (OR = 3.78, p < .001) and moderate bullying (OR = 2.42, p < .001) profiles. Higher gambling expenditure was associated with an increased likelihood of higher bullying profile membership, particularly among those spending above $200 monthly. Mood-based betting was a strong predictor of high bullying profile membership (ORs ≈ 5.76–5.96, p < .01). Younger age was negatively associated with low bullying profile membership (ORs ≈ 0.96–0.97, p < .01), and lower-income individuals were less likely to belong to the high bullying group.

Conclusions and Implications: This study provides the first empirical typology of sports bettors who engage in athlete-targeted cyberbullying, identifying distinct risk profiles linked to gambling harm, mood-driven wagering, and younger age. Findings position gambling-related cyberbullying as a social work concern at the intersection of technology-facilitated violence, sports culture, and gambling harm. Implications include the need for platforms, sports organizations, and mental health practitioners to develop targeted intervention and prevention strategies. Social work practitioners in behavioral health and sports settings should recognize these behavioral profiles as indicators of both gambling problems and interpersonal violence perpetration. Future research should examine athletes' experiences and evaluate the effectiveness of interventions.