As professional sports leagues appeal for more initiatives to stem sports betting harassment, state gaming regulators are beginning to consider programs and laws to dissuade sports bettors from taking their frustrations out on athletes, coaches, and officials.

Five states currently have programs or rules on the books allowing their regulatory bodies to take action against residents found to be engaged in harassing behavior related to sports betting. Wyoming, Ohio, Louisiana, West Virginia, and Massachusetts all have policies in place that allow their regulatory bodies to evaluate sports betting harassment incidents and intervene in situations to keep athletes, coaches, and league officials safe.

Daniel L. Krisch , a gaming attorney at Fox Rothschild who advises clients on licensing, regulatory compliance and transactional matters, told Sports Betting Dime there has been meaningful progress in these states to curb harassment, but a new and unique program in Massachusetts has the potential to be even more effective.

More states will likely look to implement additional safeguards to reduce sports betting harassment, Krisch told Sports Betting Dim e, as the private sector is now more focused on its reduction as well.

Five major U.S. professional sports leagues and their respective players associations recently urged greater regulatory action against individuals found engaging in sports betting harassment. The NFL, MLB, MLS, NBA and NHL, along with their respective players’ unions, sent letters to state gaming regulators urging harsher punishments for individuals found harassing both professional and amateur athletes, coaches, officials, and team personnel related to sports betting.

The leagues and player unions proposed three pieces of regulatory action for states with legalized sports betting to consider. The first, and most immediate, is a mandatory lifetime ban from sports betting activities from individuals verified to have “abusively harassed or issued threats of violence against any professional or amateur coach, official, team personnel, or their respective families.”

In accordance with this request, the associations urged states to implement a “streamlined reporting mechanism” for leagues, teams, players, and players’ associations to report harassment and evidence to threats related to sports betting.

Finally, the associations included a call for “operator accountability” to require commercial sports betting operators to monitor, flag, and ban accounts linked to abusive behavior toward athletes as a condition of licensing and maintaining their licenses.