A review of sports bettors’ gambling

habits and beliefs

What this article is about
This article reviews evidence about sports bettors’ Why is this article important?
gambling habits and beliefs. Sports betting is when In this article, the authors reviewed 31 studies that
gamblers place bets on sporting events, such as focused on sports bettors and were published
horseracing and soccer. Studies show that there is a between 1980 and 2014. The studies were
relationship between sports betting and gambling concerned with sports bettors’ gambling habits,
problems. Also, sports bettors may have unrealistic their beliefs about gambling, or the role of chance
thoughts about gambling which make them more and skill in sports betting. Most of the studies
likely to develop problem gambling behaviour. For involved mainly males between 30 to 50 years old.
example, they may think that their gambling skill can These sports bettors tended to gamble multiple
influence their winning. times a week. Many sports bettors believed their
Many studies have investigated factors that may gambling skill and knowledge could help them win.
increase gamblers’ risk of developing gambling Some studies showed that experienced sports
problems. However, few studies have explored sports bettors could make more accurate bets, but they
bettors’ gambling habits based on the type of did not win more money than someone who bet
gambling activity they play. The researchers did a by random selection due to the structure of the
review of existing studies to determine sports bettors’ games. This review offers insights into the
gambling habits, including the types of games they gambling habits and beliefs of sports bettors, and
bet on, how often they play, and how much they provides recommendations for future research.
spend. They also explored if sports bettors have
authors also included a table to describe each study’s
unrealistic beliefs about their ability to win.
objectives, research design, types of sports bettors
What was done? investigated and their characteristics, and the main
The authors used online databases to find studies that findings. Additionally, the authors assessed the quality
explored sports bettors’ gambling habits, their beliefs of the studies based on their methods and participant
about gambling, or the role of chance and skill in selection.
sports betting. The studies were published between What you need to know
1980 and 2014. The authors found 31 articles that
Of the 31 studies, 18 focused exclusively on
met their criteria.
horseracing bettors, and four were concerned with
The authors summarized the studies based on the both horseracing bettors and sports events bettors.
types of sports bettors investigated: 1) horseracing Eight studies focused on sports events bettors only,
bettors; 2) sports events bettors who bet on other and one study was about pool/fantasy league bettors.
types of sports events; and 3) pool/fantasy league
Most of the studies involved mainly male participants
bettors (i.e., betting on virtual teams created from
between 30 and 50 years old. The studies consistently
real-life athletes to compete with one another). The
showed that many horseracing bettors and sports Centre of Excellence for the Prevention and
event bettors gambled multiple times per week. Both Treatment of Gambling in the School of Psychology at
types of bettors generally bet over $100 Canadian per Université Laval in Québec, Canada. Serge Sevigny is
week. The high frequency of gambling might be affiliated with the Université Laval Department of
because these studies included only participants who Foundations and Practices in Education at the Quebec
gambled at least once a week. Thus, there might be Centre of Excellence for the Prevention and
an over-representation of frequent gamblers. Treatment of Gambling in Québec, Canada. Michael
Cantinotti is affiliated with the Department of
Most sports bettors, regardless of what type of
Psychology, Social Sciences sector at the Université du
activity they bet on, believed they could use their skill
Québec a Trois-Rivières in Québec, Canada. For more
and knowledge to win. This finding suggests that
information about this review, please contact
sports bettors have unrealistic beliefs about gambling,
Jonathan Mercier at [email protected].
which might trigger problem gambling behaviour.
Citation
A few studies revealed that experienced sports
bettors could make more accurate bets. However, Mercier, J., Sévigny, S., Jacques, C., Goulet, A.,
their chances of winning of the games were not better Cantinotti, M. & Giroux, I. (2018). Sports bettors: A
than someone who bet by random selection. This is systematic review. Journal of Gambling Issues, 38,
likely because most sports betting games are 203-236. http://dx.doi.org/10.4309//jgi.2018.38.11
structured in a way that require gamblers to make
Keywords
several accurate bets in order to win money. When
gamblers have to combine their bets, they do not Chance, cognitions, gambling, horseracing, fantasy
perform better than random chance. The authors league, skills, sports betting, sports lotteries
concluded that it remains difficult to clearly Study Funding
distinguish the role of chance and skill in sports
betting. This research was funded by the Fonds de recherche
du Québec – Société et culture (FRQ-SC) in
Based on their review, the authors recommended that partnership with the Ministère de la Santé et des
future research investigate sports bettors’ beliefs Services sociaux (Ministry of Health and Social
about their ability to win games using skill. Services) du Québec.
Longitudinal studies that follow participants over a
certain period of time would be helpful to determine
the role of chance and skill in sports betting. The Gambling Research Exchange Ontario (GREO)
authors also suggested that future research Gambling Research Exchange Ontario (GREO) has
investigate the gambling habits of pool/fantasy league partnered with the Knowledge Mobilization Unit at
bettors since there is a lack of research in this area. York University to produce Research Snapshots. GREO
is an independent knowledge translation and
Who is it intended for?
exchange organization that aims to eliminate harm
This review is intended for gambling treatment from gambling. Our goal is to support evidence-
providers and researchers. It summarizes evidence informed decision making in responsible gambling
about sports bettors’ gambling habits and beliefs that policies, standards and practices. The work we do is
can be used to inform treatment programs. It also intended for researchers, policy makers, gambling
suggests areas where future research is needed. regulators and operators, and treatment and
prevention service providers.
About the researchers
Jonathan Mercier, Christian Jacques, Annie Goulet, Learn more about GREO by visiting greo.ca or emailing
and Isabelle Giroux are affiliated with the Quebec [email protected].

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International License. 2018