The recent surge in sports betting has had an adverse effect on many Giants players, with a handful detailing the malicious messages they receive from disgruntled gamblers after their bets don't cash.
During an exclusive interview with USA Today's Bob Nightengale, relief pitcher Tyler Rogers revealed he has had to change his Venmo settings to private due to fans requesting money on the heels of a bad outing resulting in a lost wager.
“I had to make my Venmo private because I’d blow a game or something, and people would find me on Venmo, and they’d send me requests," Rogers told Nightengale. " ‘Hey, you cost me $1,500. You better pay me back.’ "
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Rogers isn't the only San Francisco player who's had to deal with a flurry of Venmo requests from outraged gamblers, as third baseman Matt Chapman shared he's dealt with similar harassment.
"It [gambling] definitely gets people a lot more upset than it used to,” Chapman told Nightengale. “Fans used to just say normal things like, ‘You’re a bum.’ Now, that they have all that money on us, fans will talk a lot of [expletive] to us. I’ll even have fans Venmo requesting me for money. I had to change my Venmo.”
Logan Webb is in his sixth MLB season, and the Giants ace certainly has noticed an uptick in the vitriol he receives from upset fans over lost wagers since making his debut in 2019.
“People are really passionate about teams, and now that you add money to it, it’s bigger than ever,” Webb told Nightengale. “My first year, there wasn’t that much gambling going on. It was just, ‘Oh, you suck. You shouldn’t be on the team.’ Just things like that.
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“Now, you’re getting, ‘You just cost me money.’ They say some [messed] up [expletive]. I get a lot of that with strikeouts. ‘Hey, I got money on you for strikeouts. Are you going to hit it?’ I always look up and say, ‘Probably not.’ There are times it gets pretty serious.”
Hopefully with more players speaking out about their experiences, this kind of harassmant can be curbed moving forward.
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