Sports betting is a legal and widely popular form of wagering that has negative effects similar to those of conventional gambling. People place bets on teams, athletes, or participants in sporting events who they deem as possible winners. In 2018, the United States Supreme Court permitted states to control and offer betting services, which led to a growth spurt in the industry (Winters & Derevensky, 2019). Presently, the major betting companies in the United States include BetOnline, SportsBetting.ag, MyBookie, BetNow, and Bovada. The proposed study will examine sports betting as gambling disorder and its effects on affected people, the society, and the sports industry.
Legalization of betting has created benefits for the people and societies in the United States. For some, betting serves as a secondary or even primary source of income. In addition, the industry creates hundreds of thousands of jobs for betting firm employees who earn a living through salaries, tips, benefits, and wages. The total annual value of labor provided by workers in the sector amounts to billions of dollars (Economic impact of legalized sports betting, 2017). Moreover, betting generates tax income for local, state, and federal governments. Each year, sports betting contributes tens of billions of dollars to the country’s gross domestic product. Overall, betting has the potential to enhance the economic status of societies and people who engage in the activity.
However, betting can be addictive if not done in moderation. The nature of sports betting resembles ordinary gambling done in casinos (Estévez et al., 2017). The activity triggers the same type of feelings and excitement that causes gambling disorders. The problem is exacerbated by the availability of online betting platforms accessible through smartphones and computers (Parke & Parke, 2019). The Internet has made it easy for teenagers and college students to engage in online betting activities, which has created a generation of young gamblers (Ciciora, 2018). Online systems fuel addiction since they enable users to place bets in real-time without involving a booking agent or visiting a casino. The phenomenon is more pronounced among sports enthusiasts who have a deep understanding of different sports and are more likely to place winning bets. Nevertheless, a majority of gamblers lose their wagers since it is not possible to accurately predict the outcome of sporting events. Hence, pathological gambling results in dependency, debts, and bankruptcy for the addicts (Estévez et al., 2017). The addictive nature of sports betting exposes gamblers to negative financial implications.
Communities with high percentages of addicted gamblers experience negative economic and social effects. For instance, the general cost of credit rises considerably due to the risks faced by lenders. In addition, businesses suffer financial losses due to decrease in productivity of affected employees may be preoccupied with betting instead of concentrating on their work (Pathological Gambling, 1999). At the family level, relatives of pathological gamblers experience emotional pain and financial strain due to the irresponsible behavior of exhibited by addicts. In general, gambling addiction lowers profitability of businesses and ruins families.
Sports betting encourages corruption and affects the way people watch games. Gambling has led to infiltration of sports by organized crime syndicates who collude with sports teams and individual players in order to manipulate match outcomes. Match fixing devalues and alters the fundamental nature of sports. Spectators enjoy sports due to the element of uncertainty involved in matches. However, when the outcome is predetermined, sport loses its appeal since there is no cause for excitement (Park et al., 2019). Betting changes the way people view sports. When spectators wager on a match, they are more interested in winning bets than cheering their favorite athletes and teams (Rodenberg, 2013). Gamblers stop perceiving sports as a form of entertainment and view it as a source of income instead. Overall, betting affects the way people perceive and relate to sports.
I chose this topic since sport is a major component of American culture. Sports such as football, basketball, and baseball attract millions of spectators from around the country. In addition, the sector injects billions of dollars into the economy and creates thousands of jobs. Moreover, support for local teams builds social cohesion in sporting cities such as Los Angeles, New York, and Boston. In its fundamental unadulterated form, sports impacts the society positively. However, betting may tarnish the positive image of sports and foster suspicion and cynicism among stakeholders. The research project will explore how sports betting impacts society and the sports industry. The study will try to establish how betting can coexist with sports without affecting the industry.
Sources to be Used in the Study
Killick, E. A. & Griffiths, M. (2018). In-play sports betting: A scoping study. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction. 10.1007/s11469-018-9896-6.
Killick and Griffiths’ article explores the nature of in-play betting in online sports betting. In-play betting refers to wagering on events that occur within a match, such as a certain player scoring a certain number of goals, or a team achieving a certain milestone. The article examines the in-play features offered by different online gambling websites and the effects of this practice on sports betting.
Parke, A. & Parke, J. (2019). Transformation of sports betting into a rapid and continuous gambling activity: A grounded theoretical investigation of problem sports betting in online settings. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 17, 1340–1359. DOI: 10.1007/s11469-018-0049-8
Parke and Parke’s article examines the relations between online sports betting and gambling addiction. The authors assert that online betting has harmful effects that are normally associated with gambling addiction. The article focuses on a concept the authors describe as online sports betting loop. This phenomenon denotes the nature of betting sites that have inbuilt features that encourage users to continuously place wagers. The authors explore mechanisms that can mitigate the effects of the online sports betting loop.
Estévez, A., Rodríguez, R., Díaz, N., Granero, R., Mestre-Bach, G., Steward, T.,… Jiménez-Murcia, S. (2017). How do online sports gambling disorder patients compare with land-based patients? Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 6, 4, 639-647. DOI: 10.1556/2006.6.2017.067
Estevez et al.’s article examines the similarity between three types of gamblers: people who exclusively wager on sports online, gambling addicts who bet online on non-sports events, and offline gamblers. The authors assess different characteristics between the three groups, such as consistency in betting, levels of debt, personality, sociodemographic factors, and clinical attributes.
References
Ciciora, P. (2018, May 15). Expert: Legal sports gambling will have a destabilizing effect on economy, sports. Illinois University News Bureau. https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/650811
Economic impact of legalized sports betting. (2017, June 1). American Gaming Association. https://www.americangaming.org/resources/economic-impact-of-legalized-sports-betting/
Estévez, A., Rodríguez, R., Díaz, N., Granero, R., Mestre-Bach, G., Steward, T.,… Jiménez-Murcia, S. (2017). How do online sports gambling disorder patients compare with land-based patients? Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 6, 4, 639-647. DOI: 10.1556/2006.6.2017.067
Park, J. H., Choi, C.-H., Yoon, J., & Girginov, V. (2019). How should sports match fixing be classified? Cogent Social Sciences, 5(1). DOI: 10.1080/23311886.2019.1573595
Parke, A. & Parke, J. (2019). Transformation of sports betting into a rapid and continuous gambling activity: A grounded theoretical investigation of problem sports betting in online settings. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 17, 1340–1359. DOI: 10.1007/s11469-018-0049-8
Pathological Gambling: A Critical Review. (1999). National Academies Press (US). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK230628/
Rodenberg, R. (2013). Legal and corruption issues in sports gambling. Journal of Legal Aspects of Sport. Retrieved July 20, 2020, from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/9f08/77f68e17de3dd9fafc9420e4235dd1b58ae4.pdf
Winters, K. C. & Derevensky, J. L. (2019). A review of sports wagering: Prevalence, characteristics of sports bettors, and association with problem gambling. Journal of Gambling Issues, 43. DOI: 10.4309/jgi.2019.43.7