NCAA Joins IC360 Bad Actor Program On Athlete Abuse
The NCAA has joined the Bad Actor Program, an initiative that aims to identify people who abuse, threaten or harass athletes, coaches and officials online, and to support bans from betting platforms where that is warranted.
Announced on NCAA.org on October 29, 2026, the move makes the association the first sport governing body to publicly commit to the program. It will work with Signify, Integrity Compliance 360 (IC360) and other stakeholders to pursue and report identified abusers during NCAA Championships.
For bettors, the practical message is that abusing an athlete over a lost wager can now cost a customer their account at participating sportsbooks.
How The Bad Actor Program Works
IC360 and Signify Group set up the program, with Fanatics Sportsbook the first sportsbook to partner and take a leading role. It combines social media monitoring with investigative work to identify the individuals behind abusive posts.
Participating organisations then receive information that can support accountability measures, including banning those individuals from betting platforms.
IC360 has been building similar tools for operators. Its recent expansion with Novig, covered in our report on Novig's IC360 partnership, also included a shared registry of confirmed offenders for the Bad Actor network.
What The NCAA's Own Research Found
The NCAA's involvement builds on work that began in 2023, when it teamed up with Signify Group to monitor online abuse during NCAA Championships. Its first study, released in 2024, identified more than 5,000 verified abusive, discriminatory or threatening social media posts aimed at championship participants.
Sports betting was directly linked to 12% of all verified abuse, rising to 19% in men's basketball. One student-athlete received more than 1,400 abusive messages in less than two weeks. Eighty percent of the verified abuse was aimed at March Madness participants, and women's basketball players received about three times more threats than men's basketball players.
The NCAA's 2025 GOALS study added survey evidence. It found that 51% of Division I men's basketball players reported receiving social media abuse tied to their performance, and 46% said they had received negative or threatening messages from someone who had bet on their game.
What The NCAA Said
NCAA President Charlie Baker said athlete harassment has no place in college sports, and that the association wants to work with the wider betting industry to stamp it out. He described the NCAA as the first governing body to take part because it wants new tools that make people who target athletes, coaches and officials accountable.
Clint Hangebrauck, the NCAA's managing director of enterprise risk management, said monitoring and surveys have given the association data on the volume and sources of abuse, particularly harassment tied to betting. He said the program will help it strengthen accountability across championships.
Venmo Partnership And Draw The Line
The Bad Actor Program is one of several NCAA efforts on betting-related harassment. The association also works with Venmo to identify and disrupt betting-related threats on the payments platform, including a dedicated reporting hotline, a safety best-practices guide for student-athletes, account support and user education.
It also runs the Draw the Line campaign, which includes a public service announcement aimed at people who harass athletes after losing a bet. The NCAA says the new program is the next step in a broader push to deter conduct that harms student-athletes, coaches and officials.
Refer to Cashback Terms & Conditions for full program terms.
