Responsible Wagering Australia clamps down on social media abuse
Trade body to ban bettors from platforms if found to be abusive online
Responsible Wagering Australia (RWA) has toughened its stance on social media abuse by vowing to ban platform users who are found to be displaying harassing behaviours.
A rise in reported incidences of abuse on social media against NRL, AFL and jockeys by angry punters has seen RWA CEO Brent Jackson implement harsh sanctions on guilty parties.
Jackson said bettors would be “removed immediately” if they were committing “acts of harassment online”.
Jackson said: “It is unacceptable that players have been the target of verbal abuse on social media by punters. Australia’s online wagering providers take a zero-tolerance approach to all forms of harassment, bullying and abusive behaviour.
“Where we can identify individuals using our betting platforms that engage in any form of aggression or threatening behaviour towards sporting identities, we will move to ban them from our platforms,” he added.
RWA’s move to crack down on social media abuse follows Sportradar’s release of a troll account identification tool which aims to safeguard professional athletes from abuse.