Aussie Tennis Player Reveals Shocking Online Abuse from Angry Gamblers
Australia’s fourth-ranked women’s lawn tennis player, Priscilla Hon, has revealed the horrifying social media revilement she receives from disgruntled gamblers who experience missed money betting on her matches.
The 24-year-old from Queensland shared a taste of the vitriol with her Twitter followers on Monday, which included racial abuse, misogyny, and last threats.
“Hello, you ugly skinny whore,” begins one. “I pray your leg gets amputated pretty soon, you useless, pathetic, useless [sic] piece of s**t.”
Another trolling wrote he hoped the tennis player’s folk died of cancer.
Can’t Win
Hon chose to percentage the messages this calendar week after speech production virtually the number with Australian broadcaster SBS, noting it was “sad that humanity goes downwards to this level off just for losing a bet.”
“Obviously at the head start when you number one incur them … it relieve doesn’t sense great when you show them … the thirster you play, the more messages you get,” she said.
You actualize you can’t, you know, let them have to you. Because it’s so many. And it’s all the clip it’s every single calendar week you play. But even when you win, sometimes you’ll ease get under one's skin detest because someone would have wager against you and you won the match. So they missed money … you can’t really win either way.”
Critics say the cost increase of online sports betting globally has led to the dehumanization and commoditization of athletes, patch the simpleness and anonymity of online communicating amplifies the detest and contumely they receive.
Prolific Troll
In 2019, as states began to govern sports betting inwards the US, a federal homage inwards Beantown sentenced a CA man to 18 months in prison house for sending decease threats to at least 45 pro and collegial athletes. It was the number 1 clip a better had been convicted for abusing sports figures.
Addison Choi, 23 at the time of his sentencing, was described inward royal court documents as a “prolific gambler” who won to a greater extent money than he lost. He used upwardly to 45 different burner Instagram accounts to present his violent threats and insults to athletes whose performances he believed had cost him money.
“In the realm of social media, at that place were no firewalls to protect the famous from being burnt by Addison Choi’s sulfuric acid and the keyboard he weaponized. His victims — sports heroes to many — were threatened with last by Choi for flunk to execute to his expectations on their elect fields of play, all spell he lurked inwards anonymity,” prosecutors said at the time.