FanDuel Sportsbook has banned a sports bettor who disrupted Olympic champion sprinter Gabby Thomas during a Grand Slam Track event in Philadelphia over the weekend.
FanDuel wrote it condemns in the strongest terms abusive behavior directed towards athletes in a statement sent to The Associated Press recently. Threatening or harassing athletes is unacceptable and has no place in sports. This customer is no longer able to wager with FanDuel.
Thomas finished fourth in a 100-meter race won by Melissa Jefferson-Wooden recently. In a post on social media, the bettor wrote that he made Gabby lose by heckling her. And it made him parlay win. He posted a picture of his parlay, which had Jefferson-Wooden winning the 100-meter race.
Thomas is the 200-meter champion at the Paris Games last summer. He explained the heckling incident on X. She wrote, “This grown man followed me around the track as I took pictures and signed autographs for fans (mostly children) shouting personal insults–anybody who enables him online is gross.”
“We are working to identify the individual involved and will take appropriate action as necessary. We will implant additional safeguards to help prevent incidents like this in the future. Let us be clear, despicable behavior like this will not be tolerated.”
ESPN first reported that FanDuel had restricted the bettor. The Grand Slam Track season wraps up with the fourth and final meet on June 28-29 in Los Angeles.
The Thomas incident is the latest in a string of stalking and abuse of female athletes. A Swedish cross-country skiing world champion, Frida Karlsson, previously acquired her experience with stalking into public view when she went through a trial.
After being convicted of stalking Karlsson for a year and four months, a man in his 60s was given a suspended sentence, as well as ordered to pay 40,000 kronor or $4,100 in damages. This is according to Swedish news agency TT.
