It takes little to trigger sports bettors these days. Sometimes, even a good performance may be too good for a gambler’s liking. Jimmy Butler, the Golden State Warriors forward, became the latest pro athlete to be on the receiving end of a gambler’s frustration this way.
Heckler Publishes Video of Himself Complaining to Butler Over Lost Wager
In a social media video shared by the heckler himself, a man rolls down the window and starts shouting at Butler. In the video, the man, presumably the gambler, claims to have lost a $3,000 parlay on Butler’s performance as he failed to score over 30 points in a single game.
The whole thing is anecdotical, bizarre, and comical, with the ruffled gambler ending the video with a “You work for Vegas,” which is an absolutely crazy thing to say.
While the NBA has had its fair share of issues with players underperforming or skipping games to secure betting outcomes, the idea that a $3,000 parlay was failed by Butler to help operators secure a win against a random person is outlandish at best.
Butler is hardly the only person to have been chased by irate gamblers over the Internet. Things have gotten ugly, with more people starting to place wagers across the nation and a well-represented cohort thinking it is okay to harass athletes over the outcomes of those wagers.
While Butler’s situation is a bit comical, there have been many darker things happening online. Users on social media would issue death threats and post addresses of pro athletes, warning them to “end it” before they came for them.
The worrying thing is that it doesn’t take just “bad” performance to trigger an athlete. Players who have had nothing to do with a wager – for example, defeated the other team or opponent- have also been targeted.