Ellison Lewis is a senior honors faculty fellow from Overland Park, Kansas pursuing a double main in finance and advertising and marketing. Her ardour for sports activities sparked her curiosity within the business of sports activities betting. Her thesis investigates the expansion of the low-key type of playing and its rising accessibility. Her analysis entails interviewing adults who are suffering addictions and households of adults with habit to realize an in-depth perspective of their journey, in addition to surveying faculty college students to have a look at the present standing, touchpoints and thresholds they discover acceptable or dangerous, the mediums they use, and extra.
The place did your curiosity within the matter of sports activities betting come from and what’s your thesis focus?
I’ve at all times had a love for sports activities, particularly soccer, and grew up going to lots of Kansas Metropolis Chiefs video games with my household. Lately, I started noticing sports activities betting ads on screens at their video games. Then I turned extra conscious of sports activities betting exercise on the U of A campus, together with advertisements at soccer video games and pals who’re participating in it. Lastly, my mother advised me about somebody she is aware of whose son had turn into hooked on sports activities betting when he was in faculty, and my choice to deal with it as my thesis got here collectively.
To be able to make this analysis work with my main program, I’m targeted on the ads folks see at sporting occasions and the way skilled sports activities leagues are creating wealth off the pastime and other people’s habit. The American Gaming Affiliation reported $13.7 billion in income in 2024, up from a document breaking $11.04 billion in 2023.
With the assistance of my advisor, Molly Rapert, I’ve been trying on the influence of sports activities celebrities and athletes being concerned within the advertising and marketing. Skilled athletes are legally restricted from encouraging anybody to wager however there are methods to get round it. For instance, Jason and Travis Kelce have a podcast, and each week they carry their intern in and he does a prize choose. The Kelces step out of the room whereas he’s recording, however they’re nonetheless selling it. Excessive profile former athletes additionally share their sports activities betting insights throughout pre-game occasions, post-game, through the sport… many sports activities announcers do it as nicely.
What are some issues that you’re seeing right here on campus? Who’s a typical one that participates in sports activities betting?
There’s undoubtedly a kind of character who enjoys it for the way in which it encourages analytical pondering. Some persons are additionally simply type-A, pushed to win, but in addition simply being round different individuals who do it encourages participation. I feel lots of sports activities followers and individuals who performed sports activities of their youth are additionally raised with the messaging that persistence will assist them win. That dedication to keep it up helps them assume that in the event that they’ve been dropping they simply must preserve betting and their efforts will repay and luck will flip.
It actually appeals to everybody, no matter age. Quite a lot of my friends picked up the pastime of their freshman yr, partly as a result of they’ve some freedom being away from house and they’re making their very own cash with jobs and internships. Inside the final year-and-a-half I’ve seen a dramatic enhance in sports activities betting exercise inside my group of pals. It may need been 20% beforehand, and now it’s extra like 90%.
On the similar time that I’ve observed a rise in betting exercise I’m additionally seeing rising numbers of ads. I examine it to how cigarettes was once marketed in every single place however you don’t see tobacco ads anymore as a result of it was decided that it was encouraging folks to do one thing unhealthy. Sports activities betting promoting hasn’t confronted that scrutiny but however I feel that it’s going to sooner or later.
How is sports activities betting totally different or worse than different kinds, like going to a on line casino or horse racetrack?
Wherever you might be, it’s accessible 24/7 in order that’s an enormous distinction. Additionally, as a result of it’s not known as “playing”, there’s a notion that it’s totally different from these different varieties, so that you don’t have to cover it from your loved ones or pals. There generally is a damaging connotation with the phrase playing, however not with the phrase “sports activities betting.” It’s normalized as simply part of being a sports activities fan.
It’s additionally obtainable on the telephone in your pocket, so there’s no lengthy drive to go to the on line casino or the observe. Simply pull your telephone out and place a wager, wherever you might be. I interviewed a mom whose son turned hooked on playing in faculty. At the moment, he needed to drive to the on line casino so he would solely go about as soon as every week. In keeping with her, it ruined lots of his faculty expertise in addition to his post-grad expertise. Despite the fact that he needed to take care of that barrier – distance – when he was in faculty, he nonetheless turned addicted. Sports activities betting has no such barrier.
Are there any packages or instruments set as much as assist individuals who discover themselves hooked on sports activities betting?
Not many, if any, within the U.S. There are extra within the U.Ok., the place it’s been acknowledged as an issue for a few years and getting assist for the habit appears to hold much less stigma. The U.Ok. has laws on the books going again to 2005 to assist regulate the business, which has been round there for many years. Within the U.S., sports activities betting was solely authorized in Nevada till 2018. That’s when the Supreme Courtroom gave management to particular person states to manage and the present business exploded.
Within the U.S., a father or mother can pull their little one out of school, and I feel eradicating them from the scenario the place it started most likely helps, however it’s not a endlessly repair. The issue with a playing habit is that it’s not likely a tangible factor that may be taken away. You may take away a telephone, however the on line casino is at all times open.
What has your analysis seemed like?
I’m studying lots of peer reviewed analysis papers, many printed inside the previous couple of years. I’ve additionally been referred to a few podcasts which were actually fascinating. I’ve been preserving my eye on business adjustments within the information, adjustments in sports activities video games, after which additionally adjustments in my friends.
I even have a survey I’ve been asking folks to take, and as I’ve been creating it it’s been fascinating to have folks come as much as me and say they heard what my thesis matter is and wish to take the survey. I’m wondering if, as soon as they open the survey, they don’t really feel as excited to take it. However I did get a pair individuals who advised me that taking it made them take a look at their very own actions and motivations and that’s superior.
