Sports betting advertisement at a chiefs game
Author: Ellison Lewis | Major: Finance, Marketing | Semester: Spring 2025
I began this semester of research administering my survey over winter break. My survey was administered to all genders ages 18 and older from any location. I received a total of 259 responses give or take per question due to the possibility that respondents dropped out of the survey early. My first question asked if the respondent was an active sports bettor, used to sports bet in the past, or has never sports bet before. From here, the answer to that question branched to other different questions about gambling behavior and participation, gambling influences and motivations, attitudes and perceptions towards gambling, and perceived impact and consequences of gambling.
The biggest challenge this semester was learning how to analyze and present the data. My advisor Dr. Molly Rapert is very good at data analysis and was a huge help in this process. She helped me run many statistical tests for anything I was interested in diving deeper into. I used Canva to create all my graphs, charts, tables, and diagrams. I created these graphics for any finding that was significant so that it was both eye-catching and easier for the reader to understand. I used Chat GPT to give me a color scheme that matched my topic and would provide an overall design coherence throughout my paper.
A few of my favorite findings from the survey were that of males ages 18-34, 68% are active sports bettors. 90% of people said that they know someone close to them who engages in sports betting, and only 2% said that they don’t know anyone who engages in sports betting. The average amount bet per week by active sports betting respondents was $67.60, with the highest recorded wager reaching $1,000. About 66% of respondents are somewhat influenced to sports bet by deals or promotions, and 44% see sports gambling ads multiple times a day. Most interestingly, 39.26% of respondents may experience moderate to severe gambling problems.
In addition to the survey, I interviewed sports bettors, recovering sports bettors, affected family members, and anyone who has an interest in the topic. My favorite part of all my research was a set of interviews conducted of a son recovering from a gambling addiction, and his mother who was heavily affected by this. This was the most insightful way to understand what it is like to struggle from a gambling addiction, and how it affects those around the gambler.
The last two sections of the research were limitations and a personal conclusion. My main limitations were the constantly evolving nature of sports betting, accuracy of survey responses, and the inability to see sports betting as anything other than a harmless activity. Another challenge that I listed was the difficulty comparing a non-substance addiction like gambling to substance addictions. My personal conclusion discussed my takeaways from this research and how it affected me. When I look back on myself when I first began this research, I cannot believe how naive and simple minded I was. You can read the statistics, and do the research, but it is not until you dig deep into personal lives and stories that you can truly feel like you understand.
To finalize the paper, I had to compile everything that I had worked on. I decided to begin my thesis with my personal conclusion because I feel that it is important to note how strongly the research affected me. Then the paper goes into my literature review that I completed in the fall semester. Next is my research methodology which includes all my survey and interview findings and statistics. That is followed by the limitations section, and lastly the sources.
This semester was full of deep research and personal connection. There was a stark difference from last semester when I was diving into other people’s research, and this semester where I get to dive into my own. I had a lot of fun writing this 68-page paper because it was a topic I was interested in and passionate about, and that is what I would recommend other students to do as well.