What predicts esports betting? A study on consumption of video games, esports, gambling and demographic factors

Macey, Joseph; Abarbanel, Brett; Hamari, Juho

doi:10.1177/1461444820908510

Cited by 36 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 60 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Experiential factors, including intrinsic and affective motivations (Koo 2009) and attitude (Hsu and Lu 2017) have also been found to be important drivers of game play. Therefore, this research employs the Motivation Scale for Sports Consumption (MSSC; Trail and James 2001), adapted for esports, in order to understand the gratifications that watching esports affords individual consumers, an approach consistent with previous research in the field (Hamari and Sjöblom 2017;Pizzo et al 2018;Macey, Abarbanel, and Hamari 2020).…”

Section: Theoretical Framing Of the Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Does esports spectating influence game consumption?

Macey

Tyrväinen

Pirkkalainen

et al. 2020

Behaviour & Information Technology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Contemporary digital technologies have facilitated practices related to games whereby users often produce and consume content for free. To date, research into consumer interactions has largely focused on in-game factors, however, the intention to both play the game and to make in-game purchases are influenced by outside factors, including game streams and game-centred communities. In particular, the growth of competitive gaming, known as esports, offers a new channel for consumer engagement. This research explores the potential for esports to be a significant factor in understanding both intentions to play and spend money on games. Our study draws from Motivations Scale of Sports Consumption to empirically investigate the relationship between esports spectating motivations and game consumption: Watching Intention, Gaming Intention, and Purchasing Intention. This survey uses structural equation modelling (SEM) to analyse data collected from a sample of video game players (n = 194). This research contributes empirical evidence of the relationship between esports spectating and game consumption, with the relationship between Watching Intention and Gaming Intention found to be particularly strong. Finally, while the MSSC is an adequate measure for esports spectating, additional aspects specific to esports require further investigation, consequently, there may be more optimal measures which can be developed.

show abstract

Section: Theoretical Framing Of the Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Does esports spectating influence game consumption?

Macey

Tyrväinen

Pirkkalainen

et al. 2020

Behaviour & Information Technology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Macey et al [7] noted that "the rapid growth of esports, combined with its grassroots nature, does not exist within the same cohesive governance that is present for many sports." This was reflected in our findings, which demonstrated that the current esports industry features some aspects of a lead organisation governance model [12].…”

Section: The Dynamics Amongst Publishers and Emerging Stakeholdersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Esports is a fast-growing industry, with USD 957.5 million of revenue generated in 2019, a 23.3 percent increase since 2018 and a projected annual growth rate of 15.5 percent between 2018 and 2023 [4]. Unsurprisingly, the financial rewards on offer have induced an increasing number of integrity-eroding activities-similar to regular sport-such as cheating, doping, match-fixing and illegal gambling [5][6][7]. As this problem has not been addressed through traditional policy or law enforcement mechanisms, the esports industry has initiated its own integrity-promoting activities [8,9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Esports Governance: Exploring Stakeholder Dynamics

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Esports is a rapidly growing industry. However, the unidentifiable governance structure of the industry has contributed to a number of integrity-eroding activities. By exploring esports stakeholder dynamics, this paper answers the question, “Is the esports governance model sustainable?” Data were sourced from documentation, focus groups (N = 3) and semi-structured interviews (N = 6). Thematic analysis was conducted using Nvivo. The findings suggest that (1) the current esports governance framework features some attributes of the “lead organisation-governed network”, with the power residing mainly in game publishers; (2) the rising power of other stakeholders in the network seeking to address integrity issues has caused fragmentation of the esports governance framework; (3) esports governance is evolving towards a network administration organisation (NAO) model. Such evolution has a few challenges—most notably, the compliance of game publishers. Given the social impact of the integrity issues, governments should play a main role in facilitating a NAO model.

show abstract

“…They find that most esports spectators buy loot boxes, 50.34% of whom exhibit potentially problematic gambling behavior according to the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI). Macey et al (2020) find that esports betting does not directly encourage gambling behaviors. In contrast, Lelonek-Kuleta and Bartczuk (2021) report a high prevalence of Pay-to-Win gaming and purchases among esports bettors.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 78%

Pay-to-Win Gaming and its Interrelation with Gambling: Findings from a Representative Population Sample

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Pay-to-Win gaming describes a common type of video game design in which players can pay to advance in the game. The frequency and value of payments is unlimited, and payments are linked to players’ competitiveness or progress in the game, which can potentially facilitate problematic behavioral patterns, similar to those known from gambling. Our analyses focus on assessing similarities and differences between Pay-to-Win and different forms of gambling. Based on a survey among 46,136 German adult internet users, this study presents the demographic and socio-economic profile of (1) Pay-to-Win gamers who make purchases in such games, (2) heavy users who conduct daily payments, and (3) gamers who are also gamblers. Motives for making payments were assessed and participation, frequency and spending in gambling by Pay-to-Win gamers are presented. To assess the similarity of Pay-to-Win gaming and gambling, we tested whether Pay-to-Win participation, frequency of payments and problematic gaming behavior are predictors for gambling and cross-tested the opposite effects of gambling on Pay-to-Win. We find that Pay-to-Win gamers are a distinct consumer group with considerable attraction to gambling. High engagement and problematic behavior in one game form affects (over)involvement in the other. Common ground for Pay-to-Win gaming and gambling is the facilitation of recurring payments.

show abstract

What predicts esports betting? A study on consumption of video games, esports, gambling and demographic factors

Cited by 36 publications

References 60 publications

Does esports spectating influence game consumption?

Does esports spectating influence game consumption?

Esports Governance: Exploring Stakeholder Dynamics

Pay-to-Win Gaming and its Interrelation with Gambling: Findings from a Representative Population Sample

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About