The Hazards of Impulse Betting

Impulse sports betting is a growing problem globally and it may lead to gambling addiction, which is classified as a behavioural addiction. Impulsive sports betting is often characterised by rapid, unreflective, and spontaneous betting without much deliberate or thoughtful consideration of the bettor. The reviewed articled identified general impulsiveness, higher problem gambling severity, and a shorter history of sports betting to be predictors of impulse sports betting. Moreover, the easy accessibility of online gambling, positive social influences, and marketing promotions, especially inducements, are extrinsic determinants of impulse sports betting. Therefore, health promotion strategies are required to discourage impulse betting and marketing strategies should be regulated to prevent the use of inducements. Sports betting operators should provide self-regulation tools to gamblers to help them stay within their planned and affordable limits.

Authors of this review:

Nikita Goncharenko

Date of Publication:

26/03/2023

Academic Reference:

Hing, N,. Li, E,. Vitartas, P. and Russell, A. (2018). On the Spur of the Moment: Intrinsic Predictors of Impulse Sports Betting. Journal of Gambling Studies. 34.

Tags:sports gambling sports psychology

Key Ideas

Impulse betting is defined as unplanned, spontaneous betting without much deliberate or thoughtful consideration of why the bet should be placed and of its likely outcomes and consequences.

Online accessibility enables the instant and convenient placement of bets, which facilitates impulse betting.

Impulse betting reflects self-regulatory failure, impaired control, unreflective decision-making, and betting more than planned.

Impaired control is a key feature of progression from initial gambling participation to problem gambling.

Positive social influence is the strongest situational determinant of impulse buying.

An attractive retail environment and hedonic purchases are other prominent extrinsic determinants of impulse purchasing.

Anonymity, easy access, a greater variety of available goods, marketing promotions, direct marketing, and use of credit cards are factors that encourage impulse betting.

Televised sporting events arouse temptations to place bets on impulse.

Betting inducements are offered to encourage impulse betting.

Good odds, special matches, the favorite team playing, easy access to sports betting facilities, and watching the match with other adults betting on it increase the likelihood of making impulse bets during a sports match.

Intra-group competition; shared loyalty to the sport; and the desire to display betting skills - are the factors to sustain betting activity among groups of young adult males.

Problem gamblers felt particularly encouraged to place impulse bets by humorous ads that emphasized the ease of placing the bet and promoted in-play bets.

The profile of Australian sports bettors generally reflects that of younger, partnered males with lower weekly disposable income and no university qualifications.

Citations

"impaired control as a key feature in progression from initial gambling participation to problem gambling" (Blaszczynski and Nower 2002; Jacobs 1986; Nower and Blaszczynski 2006; Sharpe and Tarrier1993)

" ... 'more likely to make impulse bets during a sports match' when 1) good odds, 2) special match (e.g. grand final), 3) favourite team was playing, 4) easy access to sports betting facilities in a venue or online, 5) when watching the match with other adults betting on it."

"problem gamblers felt encouraged to place impulse bets by promotions that emphasised ease of placing the bet, were humorous and that promoted in-play bets."

"Female participation in sports betting appears to be increasing, perhaps driven by the greater gender neutrality of online gambling environments that women find less intimidating, less stigmatising, more anonymous and safer compared to land-based gambling venues" (Corney and Davis 2010; Griffiths 2001; Hare 2015).

"One study of female online gamblers found that they are more likely to be influenced by gambling advertisements than their male counterparts (McCormack et al. 2014), so they may be particularly susceptible to the proliferation of sports betting marketing in Australia"

"use of multiple accounts may facilitate a more rational and researched approach to betting that is focused on optimising potential financial returns."

External References

Binde, P. (2014). Gambling advertising: A critical research review. London, UK: Responsible Gambling Trust.

Gainsbury, S. M., Russell, A., & Blaszczynski, A. (2013). Are psychology university student gamblers representative of non-university students and general gamblers? A comparative analysis. Journal of Gambling Studies, 29(2), 311-323.

Hing, N., Cherney, L., Gainsbury, S., Lubman, D., Wood, R., & Blaszczynski, A. (2016a). Maintaining and losing control during Internet gambling: A qualitative study of gamblers' experiences. New Media & Society, 18(9), 1904-1922.

Hing, N., Russell, A. M. T., Vitartas, P., & Lamont, M. (2017a). Demographic, behavioural and normative risk factors for gambling problems amongst sports bettors. Journal of Gambling Studies, 33(4), 1371-1388.

Lopez-Gonzalez, H., & Griffiths, M. D. (2016). Understanding the convergence of online sports betting markets. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 51(3-4), 365-381.