Sportradar, Develops Solution To Aid With Athlete Abuse Online

• Sportradar Integrity Services have begun to look into the social media abuse of professional athletes in order to find potential solutions.
• There have been many issues with the online harassment players have received from angry gamblers and fans alike.
• Sportradar’s solution involves a new service that both addresses and protects professional athletes.

ST. GALLEN, Switzerland – The Sportradar Integrity Services team has created a new service that is expected to address online abuse professional athletes face from sports bettors and fans.

The service comes in a response to the growing concern of threats, bashing, and overall unethical treatment athletes face online.

The service will be available to all sports federations and is able to identify individuals hiding behind anonymous accounts and using these accounts to attack athletes.

Stopping The Trolls

One of the darker sides of legal sports betting are gamblers who take out their frustrations on athletes when they lose a wager.

This has been a growing concern over the years, with popular sports bettors like Parlay Patz getting arrested for threatening athletes via Instagram.

With the Sportradar program, more abusers would be caught for their antics which would hopefully deter further attacks on athletes and their families.

The technology would use a tracking system that would identify accounts based on IP address. This removes the anonymity layer and allows sports leagues to pursue legal action against violent threats.

“Now, with this new service, we’ve strengthened our position in this space by safeguarding the athletes who compete in it and protecting them from online harm and social media abuse. said Andreas Krannich, managing director of Sportradar Integrity Services. “We are providing a tangible output that our partners can share with their athletes and we’re providing support to those partners in pursuing an appropriate course of action. The service we now have in place can act as a deterrent to future online abuse and create real change, particularly when people see the impact it has.”

AFL athletes in Australia have come out and began addressing the abuse they face from angry gamblers. Great Western Sydney Giant’s Callan Ward admits to facing threats online after he was awarded a free kick in a win over the Essendon Bombers.

“Public announcement!” wrote Mitch Robinson of the Brisbane Lions in response via twitter. “Not one AFL player (cares) how we cost you a $100 multi, it’s $5 bet you idiot. If you’re struggling with that amount please don’t punt in the first place. Death threats & ‘hope you do your ACL next game’ I dare say we won’t pay you out either.”

With the Sportradar solution, the relationship between athletes and fans may be able to return to a healthy one.

There is always a risk of gambling, but Sportsradar is showing that losing a bet is never an excuse to attack an athlete for poor performance.

Sportradar’s solution may be the very thing that is needed to prevent “internet trolls” from moving forward.

News tags: Andreas Krannich | Ben Patz | Callan Ward | Mitch Robinson | Parlay Patz | Sportradar | Sportradar Integrity Services