The harassment followed teams including UConn after its Final Four loss to South Carolina and UCLA after its championship win over South Carolina. Some users directed insults at players over game results and bets; others posted remarks questioning players’ gender or mocking their bodies.

Timothy Fong, a UCLA psychiatry professor and co-director of the university’s Gambling Studies Program, said he saw abusive messages in betting-site chats during the national title game. Players drew hostility even when they performed well, he said, because their results still affected bettors’ wagers.

A 2026 NCAA survey found that 30% of women athletes who experienced betting-related abuse said it reduced their enjoyment of their sport. Among surveyed athletes, 21% of women in women’s sports reported increased stress and anxiety from the abuse, compared with 11% of athletes in men’s sports. Seventeen percent of women athletes said the abuse harmed their performance, versus 8% of men.

The survey recorded 178 women and 386 men reporting betting-related abuse. The figures do not mean women experienced less harm overall: women respondents also reported lower confidence and enjoyment than their counterparts in men’s sports.

The problem has persisted despite a decline in abuse during the 2025 March Madness tournament. Data from Signify, an ethical data science and artificial intelligence company, showed that abuse directed at women’s basketball players fell 83% from 2024 to 2025, while betting-related abuse declined 66%. Signify’s Jonathan Sebire said sexualized and racist abuse were the leading categories directed at women athletes in the early rounds of the 2026 tournament.

The surge in attention to women’s basketball during the 2024 tournament, when stars Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese played their final college seasons, brought increased online abuse as well as record viewership. Iowa guard Gabbie Marshall deleted social media apps from her phone after hateful comments followed a late foul in the team’s Final Four win over UConn, ESPN reported at the time.

Brian Petrotta, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln assistant professor who studies sports media and betting, said betting has quickly become a routine part of sports coverage and discussion. He said player-specific proposition bets can shift attention from a team’s outcome to an individual athlete’s performance. But, he cautioned, acceptance of sports betting should not make harassment seem acceptable.

Fong said the combination of betting and social media can lead some fans to treat athletes as commodities rather than people. The survey findings suggest that the abuse can affect women athletes’ well-being and their experience of competing, not only their online lives.