Internet-Based Structural Characteristics of Sports Betting and Problem Gambling Severity: Is There a Relationship?

Abstract

With the adoption and popularization of internet-based platforms, sports betting has introduced new functionalities that transform the design of its products and therefore the way bettors interact with them. This study aims to explore the association between the use of new structural characteristics of online betting and gambling severity. Five characteristics are examined here: (i) live in-play betting; (ii) cash out feature use (as example of in-play betting in-built features); (iii) fantasy sports gaming; (iv) location of betting; and (v) device or platform used to make bets. A cohort (N = 659) of Spanish gamblers who had bet on sports during the previous year was recruited through an online survey. The results suggested that those bettors scoring higher on gambling problems also utilized more often such new structural characteristics, in a proportion not explained only by their higher overall gambling activity. Mobile betting was especially frequent among problem gamblers.Keywords Sports betting . Gambling . Internet . Fantasy . In-play . Mobile phone gamblingThe prevalence of online sports betting has increased in many different jurisdictions over the past few years (Gainsbury 2014;Rodríguez et al. 2017). Betting on sports amounts to 37% of Int J Ment Health Addiction

In-Play Sports Betting: a Scoping Study

“…More specifically, gamblers who are experiencing gambling-related problems may be inclined to place impulsive, less planned and readily available forms of gambling such as in-play. However, using the data from the present studies is not possible to identify a causal link between problem gambling and the use of different gambling types due to the correlational and cross-sectional nature of the few studies that have been carried out to date (Lopez-Gonzalez et al, 2018).…”

“…These characteristics include, but are not limited to bet frequency, event frequency, event duration, and pay-out frequency. Research has found in-play betting to be associated with people who were categorised as problem gamblers (Lopez-Gonzalez et al, 2018). Lopez-Gonzalez and Griffiths (2018) offered a potential explanation for this.…”

“…Limitations of this study include its use of self-report data that is subject to recall, social desirability and other biases, and that its use of cross-sectional design does not allow for the determination of causality . Lopez-Gonzalez et al, 2018) explored the association between the use of new structural characteristics of online betting and gambling severity within a sample of 659 Spanish bettors who had bet on sports during the previous 12 months. They examined live in-play betting, the cash out in-play feature, fantasy sports gaming, location of betting and device or platform used to make a bet.…”

The perceived influence of sports betting marketing techniques on disordered gamblers in treatment

“…These include messages that depict gambling as (i) a legitimate source of wealth, (ii) an investment product, and (iii) an alternative to employment. This has paved the way for more fun-centred messages that introduce sports betting as a game of skill while reducing its chance components (Lopez-Gonzalez, Estévez, & Griffiths, 2018a;2018b). Repeated exposure over time to sports betting advertising narratives depict normative representations, including how much money a 'normal' bettor stakes, in which location, accompanied by whom, and/or accepting which odds (Lopez-Gonzalez, Guerrero-Solé, .…”

Customization and Personalization of Sports Betting Products: Implications for Responsible Gambling

“…If the zero contingency relationship between customization and gambling outcome is not clearly explained by service providers, or understood by consumers, it might result in a case of illusory correlation, that is, a cognitive distortion that enhances the illusion of control among gamblers [23] . Within the broader scope of sports betting advertising, which typically resorts to narratives that emphasize the perceived control of bettors over their outcome of their bets [24] , particularly when accentuating the influence of technology [25] , customization options that are performed within bookmakers' gambling platforms and mobile sites are likely to be interpreted as providers of greater control for bettors. In the final section, a case study to illustrate this tendency is discussed.…”