FanDuel Responds to Giolito Comments About Gambler Harassment
Posted on: July 25, 2025, 04:31h.
Last updated on: July 25, 2025, 04:39h.
- Red Sox’ Giolito says online harassment is more of an issue as sports betting popularity increases
- MLB commissioner Manfred weighs in on threats to players
A few days after Boston Red Sox Lucas Giolito talked about threats made to him and his girlfriend by angry gamblers, the right-handed pitcher had a rough outing Wednesday in a 9-8 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies.
Girlfriend Bullied
Giolito, who has had a good season (6-2, 3.97 ERA) for the third place Red Sox, allowed five runs on six hits in four innings pitched, and has had consecutive starts with at least four runs allowed.
That made his comments on the “Baseball isn’t Boring” podcast this week even more timely, where he detailed a meeting with MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, expressing his concern about the harassment from angry bettors that he and his girlfriends have been receiving online, which he believes is a serious threat to baseball players.
Gioloto Expresses Concern to Manfred
It’s getting worse, by the year, by the week, by the day,” he told the podcast. “So, I know that there’s very easy things you can do. You know you can go private on social media. You can block accounts. It only goes so far. One thing I said to Rob … is it going to take a player getting assaulted in front of their apartment building, by some disgruntled guy that lost a bet, for real action to be taken? Because, we have cybersecurity. We have all these things. The social media apps themselves, it’s usually Instagram and Twitter where this goes on, they don’t do anything.
“So, I have my girlfriend, where she gets a lot of nasty shit when I pitch poorly too. You’ll report it to Instagram, and it’s always coming back no action was taken. A lot of it’s coming off of burner accounts. But you know, cybersecurity is able to get through that figure out where the IP address is. [Rob] seemed a little taken aback, that maybe this was something we should look into.”
FanDuel Responds
Giolito said this is becoming an even bigger concern, with the rise in popularity of sports betting.
FanDuel is the official sports betting partner of Major League Baseball, and a spokesperson said this to Casino.org today: “FanDuel condemns in the strongest terms abusive behavior directed towards athletes. Threatening or harassing athletes is unacceptable and has no place in sports.”
The spokesperson said that in June, FanDuel removed a customer from their platform who was harassing Olympic gold medalist Gabby Thomas. Thomas posted on X that “this grown man” followed her around the track as she took pictures and signed autographs, mostly for children, hurling personal insults at her over a parlay bet.
New Policy
The bettor, who goes by “mr100kaday”, posted a video showing himself berating Thomas ahead of a race, and later said he won his FanDuel parlay by making her lose.
FanDuel recently updated their terms and conditions with specific language that says if they find a bettor harassing an athlete, they will remove that person from the platform:
“We may, in our sole discretion, suspend or terminate your Account and/or exclude you from the Services if we determine that you pose a threat to the safety of participants in a sporting event or discover that you engaged in the harassment of a sports official, coach, or any participant in a sporting event.”
Online Harassment
A rise in online harassment is becoming a bigger issue for sportsbook operators to monitor.
“Many athletes are on social media, interacting with fans, and that has led to some really fun and entertaining experiences and bringing fans closer to the game, but it also gives fans an opportunity to say, frankly, unacceptable things to athletes that are negative or harassing,” Cory Fox, SVP of Public Policy and Sustainability at FanDuel, told In Game.
Manfred Comments During MLB All-Star Game
Manfred was asked about player safety as it relates to sports betting during the MLB All-Star break last week, saying he’s heard from players about threats they have been receiving.
If a player receives a threat from any source, on any topic, it is a matter of concern to us that we take really seriously. I’ve had players in the last month mention this issue to me as one of concern and we’re discussing what we should do to be more proactive in this area,” Manfred told ESPN.
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