Peter Caley

Professor Peck

MAC 325

07 December 2023

Online Sports Betting

With the continued legalization of online sports betting, there comes a noticeable rise in

attention that betting apps have garnered. Sports betting refers to the act of placing wagers on the

outcome of a variety of sporting events (Statista Research Department 2023). In Nevada alone,

the increased number of sports betting books in 2021 reached 126; with the total winnings

reaching 445.13 million dollars (Statista Research Department 2023). The widespread increase

and engagement of sports betting are taking over the US with 26 States legalizing the act of

online sports betting as of 2023 (Chris Bengel & Shanna McCarriston 2023). The digitization of

sports betting comes from the casinos of independent companies creating interactive and highly

technologically advanced sports books. The advanced interactive aspects these companies put in

place take advantage of the widespread use of cell phones and computers. The most popular

digital sports books include DraftKings, FOX Bet, FanDuel, BetMGM Sportsbook, and

PointsBet (Statista 2023). There is a wide variety of companies that are taking advantage of the

increased legalization of digital sporting betting. Any adult with a phone or computer and access

to the internet can place real-time bets or future bets on almost any sport from any country. The

sports book's variety of possible bets means an adult in Kansas could place a bet on a Korean

baseball team they have never even heard of. Placing the already addictive habit of gambling in

the hands of the user and 24/7 access to the incentive of free bets, discounts, and expert opinions

to keep the users hooked. The widespread advertisement, monetary incentives, and the ease of
accessibility of digital sports betting apps have led to a rapid increase in adults taking part in

gambling. Digital sports betting exacerbates the detrimental habits and addictive behavior that

come with the act of gambling among adults and young adults.

Sports betting becoming digitalized has brought a wide variety of convergences of

markets that have led to an increase in the popularity of placing bets on sports. Popular casinos

including MGM Casino owning digital sportsbooks have led to independent companies forming

their digital sportsbooks. There has never been a better time for adults to start betting on sports.

This has caused a multitude of branches that have also led to an increase in the popularity of

sports betting. Hibai Lopez-Gonzalez and Mark D Griffiths outline this convergence of markets

and the digital branches that have led to the increase in sports betting; “Responding to the growth

of sports betting worldwide, the increased number of betting opportunities via a myriad of

channels, devices, and platforms, and the increasingly difficult distinction between sports betting

and sports betting-like markets, this paper has attempted to offer a comprehensive picture of the

forces driving the convergence of markets around betting activity” (Hibai Lopez-Gonzalez and

Mark D Griffiths 819). This book illustrates how sports betting can be split up into three columns

all adding attributes explaining the rise and attention the new wave of digital sports betting has

received. The three columns are digital integration, sporting integration, and gambling

integration (Lopez-Gonzalez and Mark D Griffiths 53). Digital integration includes an increase

in social awareness of sports betting and communities built around the discussions of betting

opportunities on digital sports books. Since people don't need to go into casinos to place bets on

sports, they can place their bets at home. With that access to the internet, they can join online

communities on apps like Twitter, Instagram, or Discord to get certain bets or ideas on what

sports events to gamble on. People follow these influencers who run certain discord chats or have
Instagram/Twitter pages for good bets or what is called a “lock.” This has led to discussions on a

multitude of social media apps and has helped spread awareness of digital sportsbooks. The

prevalence of sports betting on social media has increased a wanting to be included in these new

trends. Since sports are popular around the globe and the digitalization of gambling has increased

the access people have to the market, popularity will only increase.

With the increase in market popularity comes an increase in the competition between

digital sports books. There is an increase in the wanting of the sportsbooks to get their name out

through advertisements and special marketing. As aforementioned in the paragraph above, not

only has the popularity of these digital sportsbooks risen from a newfound social community and

market convergence. There has also been a push from all the digital sportsbooks to increase the

advertisements they use and the incentives to keep the users hooked. Incentives can include

offering free money if you bet a certain amount, money if you get people to join the app through

reference codes, newly signed-up people getting free bets, and discount codes on bets of a certain

amount. These techniques used by digital sportsbooks increase the desire for people to sign up

for their books as well as hook the people already using the sites and make them want to

continue to place bets because they feel as if the free money and free bets need to be used. We

can assume that through the incentives they can maintain an audience for their sportsbooks as

well as get free marketing based on the reference codes and discount codes that the users would

give to their friends so their friends would then join the app. It can be pieced together how

promoting gambling as a social endeavor is dangerous, much like how a casino manipulates its

audience into repetitively taking part. This is not the only way the sports books are manipulating

audiences into joining their sites. For example, an article in the Harm Reduction Journal states

“Some also specifically described how constant exposure to marketing for these products was so
common that they had become ‘desensitized’ to it, and the more they implicitly accepted (or did

not question) the presence of gambling marketing in these spaces, ‘the more you see it the more

you think that’s okay.’ Others stated that the constant exposure to marketing for sports betting

products also removed the stigma traditionally associated with betting by creating a perception

that gambling on sports was a normal activity” (HRJ 2017). The journal also points out how

sportsbooks are using billboards, radio ads, public transportation, and television to constantly

promote sports betting. This constant reminder of their apps and sports betting is causing the new

generation to feel comfortable with gambling and ignore the habits and dangers that can come

with it. Sports betting being digitized has caused freedom for independent companies to create

their own sites and apps. Because independent companies are popping up with their own

digitized sports books at such a frequent rate, the normalcy around sports betting has become

more widespread. Being digital gives these companies access to a whole new range of marketing

techniques such as television ads, radio ads, and discount codes on social media. They also have

the opportunity to reach not only an adult audience but also the younger audience, who are

getting to the age of being able to gamble as well as being more intertwined with digital media

(see Fig. 1).

Figure 1

This figure comes from the National Council on Problem Gambling displaying a jump in

underage sports betting from the year 2018 to the year 2021 (NCPG 2021). This shows a direct

correlation between the legalization and increased usage of digital sports betting, spreading

across the US. Not only has digital sports betting affected the adult population but it is also

affecting underage or younger men and women. The digital sports betting world is taking over

the minds of the underaged who are developing negative habits that are associated with

gambling. Steve Sharman writes: “Results indicate the younger age of gambling onset was

associated with increased gambling severity. Those who began gambling at an earlier age were

more likely to have abused drugs or solvents, committed an unreported crime, been verbally

aggressive, and experienced violent outbursts”(Steve Sharman 2019). The digitalization of sports

betting has not only caused an increase in adults partaking in sports betting but also an increase

in the younger generation who takes more of an impact of the negative detrimental habits of

gambling.

Gambling is an extremely dangerous habit that can have insurmountable and irreversible

outcomes, leaving a person feeling hopeless and mentally drained. As aforementioned, gambling

can affect younger men and women. Gambling can lead to addiction, which is “characterized by

an increasing tolerance that requires more gambling as time goes on to feel satisfied” (APA

2023). The Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine found in their research that 75.0% (156

participants) of participants had to borrow money or sell to fund their online gambling

participation and 74.5% (155 participants) had experienced financial problems in their household

as a result of their online gambling. 67.3% (140 participants) also reported health problems
including stress and anxiety as a result of their online gambling. Trying to win back money lost

the next day was the least selected with 53.4% (111) of the surveyed group. At least 50% of the

participants surveyed identified with at least one of the statements (IJPM 2018). The above

statistics address gambling overall, but what about sports betting? “A survey was completed by

1,280 participants, 596 of whom had placed bets on a sporting event in the last year. We found

that sports betters are at greater risk of problem gambling due to differences in attitudes towards

gambling, personality traits, thinking styles, erroneous cognitions, and gambling motivations”

(Cooper, A., 38 2021). This means that not only is gambling a serious problem, but sports betting

is one of the more impactful and dangerous forms of gambling.

We've seen how sports betting has become a convergence of digitalization and

socialization which combines the addictive nature of gambling to create a widely popular and

dangerous new market. This new form of gambling is becoming more socially acceptable and

people are becoming numb to the possible repercussions of gambling. The constant peppering of

advertisements and the surrounding sports betting is affecting everyone. Younger adults who go

on social media and follow sports are being shown this world of gambling as a fun and safe way

of betting and making money; tricking them into not fully understanding the negative impacts of

gambling and the possibility of developing an addiction. The danger of being digital means

anybody from the comfort of their home could place these bets at any time.

With the rise and constant legalization of digital sports betting, the rise in popularity, the

widespread advertisement, additional incentives, and the ease of accessibility; there has been a

rapid increase in adults taking part in gambling. As aforementioned, digital sports betting

exacerbates the detrimental habits and addictive behavior that come with the act of gambling

among adults and young adults. Social media apps are being used as discussion boards talking
about betting and gambling on these brand new apps spreading the word of them and spreading

the image of sports betting being fun and harmless. Companies use marketing techniques to

overwhelm audiences into feeling comfortable with gambling as if it's an everyday thing.

Advertisements and influencers are targeting younger adults and people who are underage of

gambling restrictions in the U.S. molding them into believing that gambling is okay and the

motivation of hitting big is worth the risk. This idea started blooming around digital sports

betting that at any second you could place a parlay or a big bet using one of the free bets or

reference codes that we talked about before and making a ton of money, sucking users into the

possible effects of gambling that can ruin lives. The digitalization of sports betting and the

affordances that come from the use of digital media are masking the toxic effects that come from

gambling. Overall digital sports betting is exacerbating the detrimental habits and addictive

behavior that come with the act of gambling among adults and young adults.
 Work Cited

Bengel, Chris, and Shanna McCarriston. “U.S. Sports Betting: Here Is Where All 50 States

Currently Stand on Legalizing Online Sports Betting Sites.” CBSSports.Com, 17 Nov.

2023,

www.cbssports.com/general/news/u-s-sports-betting-here-is-where-all-50-states-currently

-stand-on-legalizing-online-sports-betting-sites/.

Columb, D., & O’Gara, C. (2018). A national survey of online gambling behaviors. Irish Journal

of Psychological Medicine, 35(4), 311–319. https://doi.org/10.1017/ipm.2017.64

Cooper, A., Olfert, K. & Marmurek, H.H.C. Predictors of Problem Gambling for Sports and

Non-sports Gamblers: A Stochastic Search Variable Selection Analysis. J Gambl Stud 38,

767–783 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-021-10025-2

Deans EG, Thomas SL, Derevensky J, Daube M. The influence of marketing on the sports

betting attitudes and consumption behaviors of young men: implications for harm

reduction and prevention strategies. Harm Reduct J. 2017 Jan 19;14(1):5. doi:

10.1186/s12954-017-0131-8. PMID: 28103937; PMCID: PMC5247806.

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Lopez-Gonzalez, H., & Griffiths, M. D. (2018). Understanding the convergence of markets in

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SPORT, 53(7), 807–823.

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“National Trends from Ngage 2.0 (2021).” National Survey on Gambling Attitudes and

Gambling Experiences 21 Oct. 2023, www.ncpgsurvey.org/2021-national-trends/.

Sohn, E. (2023, July 1). How gambling affects the brain and who is most vulnerable to addiction.

Monitor on Psychology, 54(5).

https://www.apa.org/monitor/2023/07/how-gambling-affects-the-brain

Statista Research Department( Sept. 7 2023). Sports betting in the U.S. - statistics & facts. In

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treatment-seeking gamblers: Differences in early age onset gamblers vs later age onset

gamblers, Addictive Behaviors, Volume 97 2019, Pages 20-26, ISSN 0306-4603,

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2019.05.013.