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  1. The Focus of Gambling in Sports Media    

     

    QUESTION

    Write an essay about the sports media focusing its attention on sports gambling and posting gambling organizations on digital and print media.

     

 

Subject Essay Writing Pages 15 Style APA

Answer

The Focus of Gambling in Sports Media

Introduction

In the past three years, sport gambling has become an increasingly important segment in the sports media companies. In 1993, Professional and Amateur Sports Protection were passed to outlaw sports gambling statewide (besides Oregon, Delaware, and Montana) until the Supreme Court of the United States authorized its legalization in May 2018. The decision sparked a rush to legalize sports betting across the country. About twenty-one states had legalized sports betting in the United States as of March 2021, with another fourteen expected to do so between 2021 and 2022. As a result of the rapid growth, excessive media attention has been increasing, in contrast to other sports media segments. Sports media companies have focused on gambling in the sports industry, but lack understanding of the negative effects it may cause. As a result of the Supreme Court decision, there has been a rapid increase of promotion of sports gambling in the media, which has had negative consequences for society.

Advertising has had a significant effect on the illegal practices of gambling (Kurian, Sinha, & Nanda, 2019, p. 85). In a rush to attract new customers, gambling operators have turned to sports media companies, which are in their own race to cash in on the legal-betting boom (Strauss, 2020). Gambling operators are interested in finding more bettors, so they use sports media companies that are interested in gambling related revenue. The interest of bettors in sports gambling is determined by how the advertising. Media companies are using both television and digital media outlets to create content explicitly for sports gambling viewers, to realize that people will seek knowledge and insight to make them smarter players and to improve their odds of winning. (Fortunato, 2020). The excessive gambling attention on different media outlets influence bettors to seek knowledge to improve their odds. However, as the industry increases, problem gambling experts are worried that states are failing to recognize the possible damage that addiction can cause. (Purdum, 2020). Is there any awareness of the addiction that legalized gambling can create as a result of its rapid growth? The facts of sports gambling legislation, advertisement, and financial benefits provide a framework for analyzing gambling-related organizations’ activities, as well as the intentions of sports media companies and the harm they can cause.

            Despite the growing interest in gambling by sports media, it is alarming that very little research has been done on this subject from the standpoint of the athlete. Also, on this topic research on fixed games are especially scarce: Few studies have looked at how organized games are run for monetary benefit by media companies. For this reason, this study will conduct unique research by adding these overlooked variables. With the connection of athlete publicity in relation to the sports media companies’ interest in gambling. Also, involving the financial benefits for all involved in the sports teams, media, and sports gambling is in need of study.

            A study of the media’s increasing focus on sports gambling is important for several reasons. First, understanding the relationship among sports media companies and legalized sport betting statewide can help to reveal the underlying logic of sports media gambling and can help society understand the strategies of media companies. This study improves the practice by revealing such knowledge to the audience to give them another viewpoint. In addition, the audience will gain knowledge on the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PAPSA) and its streak for being unconstitutional in 2018. Third, researchers have often studied the legalization of sports gambling and it reflect on the media but their findings never covered the negative effects on the society. Sports media overwhelming coverage on gambling could cause a statewide spread of negative impact. This research contributes to scholarly literature because state governments, sports leagues and teams, sports gambling associations, and media corporations are all in a position to benefit from the growth of sports gambling in the media, which has a negative effect on society, making it imperative to study.

The goal of this proposed study is to discover the reason behind the growing focus of gambling in sports media. Over the last couple of years, gambling in many states has increased substantially after the Supreme Court’s ruling to overturn the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act. The aim of this study will reveal to the audience insight behind the relationship between sports gambling and sports media, and the negative impact on the growth of the market.

Purpose of Study

The purpose of this research proposal will be to discover the activities and negative effects of sport gambling-related organizations in the development and growth in the sports media industry, after the Supreme Court’s ruling for researchers at universities. The study also provides a perception of what is currently going on in the sports gambling industry and can help to better anticipate future developments. At this stage in the research the activities of sport gambling-related organizations in the sports media industry are for researchers at universities will be generally defined as the any means of promotion. The relationship between sports media and the gambling in sports industry will be analyzed using qualitative research approach to explain the focus of gambling in sports media.

Literature Review

The sports betting industry has grown exponentially with a high increase of advertising and promotion in sports media since the legalization of sports gambling. Since the population relies on the media as a main source of information it’s important for the media to highlight particular promotions for the community. This literature review focuses on the suggestions by the literature on the relationship between sports media and the legalized gambling in the sport industry to explain the focus of gambling in sports media. The following subjects will be covered in detail: the growth of legalized sports gambling, sports gambling promotions in the media, and gambling revenue.

The Growth of Legalized Sports Gambling

The expansion of the emerging legalized sports betting market has met many stakeholders’ expectations two years since the historic ruling by the United States Supreme Court, and has significantly altered the relationship between sports leagues and the gambling industry. Since the Supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 on May14,2018, more than $20 billion has been wagered at US sportsbooks (Purdum, 2020, para 2). Sports betting has been illegal in many states other than Nevada for the past 26 years until it was stricken unconstitutional. When Congress’s 1992 PASPA was “good law,” the only way to gamble lawfully in the United States was to fly to Nevada. You could either wager unlawfully at a nearby bookie or at sportsbooks overseas, but other rules (such as UIGEA) confuse matters (such as funding an account), while millions of offshore sportsbooks take wagers illegally from U.S. customers (Dorson, 2021, para 2). Dorson highlight that a major transition occurred in the United States after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of New Jersey in Murphy vs. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Many researchers believe that now that sports gambling is legalized the growth is spread throughout other states.

According to Killick and Griffiths (2020, para 4), expansion of online gambling has propelled the latest growth in sports betting that is currently comprising of more than 54% of the international Internet gambling marketplace (David et al., 2017, para 7). In a study about gambling in Australia, Kurian et al. (2019, para 3) found out that Australians currently have convenient mobile access and 24/7 betting websites, implying that they are able to gamble from almost any place and time. Lopez-Gonzalez et al. (2019, para 6) also established that sporting events are continuing to be packed with Internet gambling, and bettors have an opportunity to readily compare and contrast wagering products for an expanding series of international sporting events and Australia. David et al. (2017, para 9) add that people can presently bet online on several sports with various sports betting operators that are licensed across their countries and internationally or with offshore wagering websites that unlawfully provide the services to the bettors.

In a study by Killick and Griffiths (2020, para 1), it was concluded that Internet gambling and continued access both legal and illegal sites for gambling are switching betting from land-based outlets, with about 50% of sports betting currently being carried online. Crucial advantages of the online gambling are price, comfort, convenience, and the greater number of gambling alternatives that are available (Torrance et al., 2021, para 8). The enactment of various laws and statutes across the world, like the 2008 Australian High Court verdict, in favour of gambling are continuing to offer further motivation to the expansions sports gambling. Kurian et al. (2019, para 5) explain that such laws and statutes are removing limitations that were initially preventing bookmakers that are licensed within a particular jurisdiction from promoting or advertising another. This transformation prompted the entrance of corporate bookmakers into various economies’ sports betting marketplaces to capitalize on penchants within the economies for sport and gambling (Lawn et al., 2020, para 7). Stadiums, sporting events, and teams have now entered into different commercial advertising agreements with the corporate bookmakers, a practice that is continuing to be prominent in sports, like the Australian Football League, National Rugby League (NRL), English Premier League (EPL), UEFA Champions League (UCL), La Liga, and National Basketball Association (NBA), among others.  David et al. (2017, para 2) contend that these sports attract about 50% of all sports betting across the world, with a tripling of turnover predicted within ten years to come. owing to the fact that these codes are receiving product fees and marketing based upon betting revenues, sporting agencies are equally getting inspired to promote and maintain an innovative, competitive wagering product (Kurian et al., 2019, para 7). Thus, the growth of lawful sports gambling is continuing across the globe for various reasons, among which include:  about 50% of all sports betting is currently being carried out online; and many commercial agreements currently exist between bookmakers and sporting entities (clubs, stadiums, and events, among other entities). These arrangements have provided a conducive environment for increase in sports betting advertising and contributed to its expansion.

Sports Gambling Promotions in The Media

Marketing is essential for operators of sports betting to compensate for restricted price elasticity, intense competition, and little product differentiation (Lopez-Gonzalez et al., 2019, para 6). Promotional strategies employed often include radio, television, celebrity brand ambassadors, online popups on various Internet sites, third-party and direct SMS and email, inducements, and loyalty programs (Lopez-Gonzalez & Tulloch, 2015, para 6). Promotions and sponsorship have equally been entrenched into sporting fixtures. David et al. (2017, para 1) add that betting operators offer mobile sports betting applications, promote sports betting via email and smartphones, including enhanced odds, live stream coverage of sporting happenings, money back guarantees, offer bonuses and credits, betting tips, and deposits (Kurian et al., 2019, para 8). The aim of employing these and many other techniques id to register, recruit, and retain active clients. In a study that was done about the proliferation of sports betting promotion in Australia, the following statistics were found: (i) more than 3,100 personal sports betting advertisements, in 2012, were relayed through all kinds of media, excluding social media communications; (ii) of the 3,100 advertisements, 538 were individual sports betting promotions, which were together played more frequently on pay television channels and more than 20,000 on free-to-air television channels; (iii) the worth of sports betting promotion did quadruple between 2010 and 2012; and (iv) sports betting promotion had proliferated through various promotional techniques and media. 

Nonetheless, the overload of sports betting promotion has generated concerns and controversies. Currently, sports are employed largely as a marketing platform or avenue to deploy substantial investments of money by operators of sports betting with the goal of recruiting and retaining clients via celebrity endorsements, merchandising, and advertising that incorporate images, products, icons, and usages (Torrance et al., 2021, para 5). Among the concerns that exist currently is that marketing has the ability of encouraging customers to take gambling into consideration as sport, and that youth and children are learning concerning sport merchandising and programming (Lopez-Gonzalez et al., 2019, para 7). These can legitimize and normalize gambling uptake among youth and children, and this can be harmful (Lawn et al., 2020, para 8).

In a study by Lopez-Gonzalez and Griffiths (2018, para 9), it was noted that the vivid target marketplace for most sports betting promotions are the young adult males. Approaches include attractive female models and presenters, use of celebrity role models, and the relocation of sports betting as an undertaking for professional, young men (Torrance et al., 2021, para 11). Advertising appeals to this marketplace via engaging masculinity notions, sporting knowledge, and team loyalty (Lopez-Gonzalez et al., 2019, para 3).  Nonetheless, it is the entrenchment of sports betting advertising into televised and live sport that has generated most controversy globally, with the practice being fueled by the growth of sport sponsorships along with promotion rights bought by operators of sports betting.

A study by Lawn et al. (2020, para 3) noted that since 2010, sports betting advertisements have increasingly been entrenched into televised and live sporting events. The study further explained that promotional strategies have included dynamic advertising (like electronic and rotating banners), fixed promotional signage, commercial break promotions, team sponsorships, and integrated promotions incorporating live betting odds. In another study by Lopez-Gonzalez and Tulloch (2015, para 7), the entrenchment of advertising is powerful since very little can be averted by skipping via or muting promotions and it has the ability of evoking emotional as opposed to rational response. Killick and Griffiths (2020, para 7) asserted that promotions happen at crucial points when the target audiences are keenest. Gambling logos, as Torrance et al. (2021, para 6) point out, are continuously displayed on players’ uniforms and stadium signage, operators of sports betting have regular sponsored divisions, and betting is advertised by match commentators and celebrity presenters. The concept behind all these strategies is that excitement of watching games is heightened by wagering upon their contingencies and outcomes (Lawn et al., 2020, para 2). Evidently, there are several promotional techniques employed in advertising sports betting, among which are televisions and new media platforms, like social media.

Gambling Revenue

In Western nations, betting on sports fixtures, results, and events, especially over the Internet, is fast becoming prevalent. For instance, in Australia, sports betting seems to be the fastest expanding gambling form, nearly doubling in the last decade (Lopez-Gonzalez & Tulloch, 2015, para 7).  Lopez-Gonzalez and Griffiths (2018, para 6) add that in 2011, it was approximated that the amount of revenue that was produced by sports betting within Australia alone was at least $700 million, rising from 2006’s $265 million. The same trend has been seen globally. In the United Kingdom, Kurian et al. (2019, para 2) note that by the end of 2017, the UK’s gambling industry had approximately $17.8 billion total gross, which was 0.8% rise from the previous year. The study also indicated that non-remote sport associated betting contributed 25% of the UK’s gambling marketplace, accounting for about $4.3 billion (Kurian et al., 2019, para 4). In another research by Lopez-Gonzalez and Tulloch (2015, para 3), approximately 53% of the money obtained from gambling in the UK wagered via the national lottery goes to prizes, with ticket sellers and lottery organizers taking another 10%. The UK government takes 12%, and the remaining 25% goes towards “good causes.”

In Spain, online sports betting in 2017 yielded about $651 million. This revenue has been on an increasing trajectory (Lopez-Gonzalez & Griffiths, 2018, para 4). Nonetheless, Spain’s gambling marketplace is still unsaturated. In China, Killick and Griffiths (2020, para 4) note that the China Sports Lottery has rapidly grown over the last two decades, registering about $30.5 billion in 2017, which a rise from 2017’s $7.7 billion. A percentage of this fund is employed in building sports facilities, providing equipment to communities, promoting mass participation, and supporting youth development initiatives (Torrance et al., 2021, para 5). Evidently, economies around the world are reaping huge revenues from sports betting, which if put into good use can significantly change the faces of the countries for the better.

Whereas research regarding benefits and costs of sports betting is yet at its initial stages, sports betting benefits and gambling-associated sports advertisements have internationally been identified (Lopez-Gonzalez & Griffiths, 2018, para 9). While literature is limited, the constant message across the budding studies is that online sports betting is fast surpassing all other kinds of gambling with regard to participation.

Methods

This study utilizes the qualitative research method using the grounded theory design, by analyzing the relationship between sports media, and legalized gambling in the sports industry. According to Creswell and Creswell (2018), qualitative research methods, as opposed to quantitative methods, focus on text and image analysis, have distinct steps in data processing, and depend on various designs. The basic characteristics of this qualitative study are inductive and deductive data analysis. The inductive approach collects data specific to the subject of analysis, and examines correlations then develops a hypothesis. In contrast, the deductive approach hypothesizes and analyzes data to determine whether the idea is validated (Creswell & Creswell, 2018, p. 296).  This study primarily is concern with identifying the increase in legalized sports gambling promotions in the media and the benefits that various parties could derive from expanding legalized sports gambling. If sports media companies increase their focus on supporting legalized sports gambling promotions, then they will generate a significant source of revenue. The following research questions will guide this study:

  1. What is the source of the growth in sports gambling in the United States?
  2. Why the sport media industry is focusing more on promoting legalized gambling organizations?
  3. Does the sports media industry profit from sports betting?

The specific reason the grounded theory will be used for this study is to take advantage of the qualitative findings. Tie, Birks, and Francis (2019) mentioned that grounded theory studies are typically concerned with discovering or developing theories from data collected and analyzed using comparative analysis (para. 1). The grounded theory was initially created by Glaser and Strauss in the mid-1960s, to investigate how people interacted with the fact that they were dying, as well as the responses of healthcare professionals caring for these patients (Tie, Birks, & Francis, 2019, para. 7). In the scholarly literature, there is a need to discover the effects of sport gambling-related organizations in developing and rapid growth in the sports media industries’ promotions to develop strategies to anticipate future developments better. Therefore, the grounded theory design was used for data and in-depth interviews with a sample of sports gambling-related organizations that are constantly advertised in the media to provide an overview of the key source’s participation in the rapid growth of modern sports media promotions.

As the researcher, I have had personal experiences with sports betting, with sports gambling-related organizations, like Draftkings and Fan Duel. I was recently introduced to DraftKings by friends and colleagues; however, I learned about Fan Duel by viewing sports news highlights on ESPN during a National Basketball Association (NBA) championship game gathering. Although personal gatherings among peers may have introduced me to these sports gambling-related organizations, it also shaped my interest in the study that the increase in the advertisement of sports gambling organizations on sports media. During the analysis phase, these thoughts were jotted down in memos.

Data Collection

During the data collection, the researcher will use a gatekeeper to obtain access to research site locations and individuals needed for this research. Sports enthusiasts and bettors are mark with the assistance of a gatekeeper. The gatekeeper will also be use to solidify the research location at Petersburg library conference room. In qualitative research, a gatekeeper is any individual or organization that serves as a go-between for a researcher and prospective participants and will even have the authority to allow or withhold entry to prospective test participants (Durham University, 2020, para. 3). However, prior to the study, the researcher’s proposals will be checked by an institutional review board (IRB) on the researcher’s university campus to determine the possible danger to any potential participants as a precaution. An application will be submitted to the IRB with information about the research and the participants at risk in the study. The participants will be recruited using fliers posted in sports bars, and disseminated at college sports games by the consent of the owners, on social media, and through referrals from the researcher’s colleagues. The fliers for recruitment will clearly state the study, what type of participates we need, and why and how to enroll. The fliers will also state that an incentive of $25 will be given to all participants who finish the study as well as lunch and refreshments are offered. Before participating in the study, all individuals interested in the analysis have to go through a phone interview to see whether they met the requirements. All participants must be between the ages of 25 and 45, which is the known age demographic for sports bettors with no specific gender. The specific target sample are sports fans and sport bettors. The researcher will need the potential participants to be fans of the most common sports for betting like soccer, tennis, golf, football, baseball, hockey, boxing and mixed martial arts, cricket, and rugby. The potential participants will be asked eight open-ended questions to identify candidates who meet the criteria. The study will need a mixture of participants who are regular, occasional, career and non-expert gamblers. All the participants who participate in sports gambling need to be gamblers who may have used FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM sportsbooks or Caesars Entertainment. The gatekeeper will contact the individuals who meet the criteria and invite them to a focus group interview and/or semi-structured observation for the study in the conference room at the Petersburg library. To all willing participants, a detailed description of the purpose of the study will be provided at the site. Also, the researcher would require all participants to sign the informed consent forms committing to the terms of the sample prior to the actual study. During the interview, participants would be asked about their observations regarding specific sports gambling-related entities advertising on the most prominent media companies, such as ESPN, FOX, NBC, CBS, Barstool Sports, and several others. Also, another interview will be conducted to learn more about the participants’ past impressions of the study to receive another examination of the findings. The outcome of this interview should reveal the answers to the theory, if sports media firms expand their emphasis on promoting legalized sports gambling campaigns, they can create a large stream of income. The For this study, the data collected will be in the form of a focus group type interview, semi-structured observations, collections of public documents, and digital materials. All data collected will be recorded using video and written documentation as a protocol.

Interviews. The participants will be in an unstructured focus group of about six to ten individuals in each group. I will ask open-ended questions as the participants watch sports news media highlights from popular media companies to obtain viewpoints and perspectives from the participants. The protocol for the interviews would be to document the participants on audio and transcribe their data responses.

Observations. The purpose of observation is to gain additional information from the participants.  The participants will be observed as I ask them general open-ended questions at the research site in the Petersburg library conference room, allowing them to freely provide their views as I take notes on their behavior and activities. The questions asked will highlight the participants awareness of the large amount of advertisement of gambling. The protocol for the observation will consist of a single page with both informative and reflective notes. The time, date, and location of the observation will also be noted.

Documents. The public documents collected for this study will include any public print sports media documents, like sports newspapers, sports magazines, and more. I will also include papers from the focus groups and observations, minutes from all meetings, and reports. All documents will be used for data analysis only. Any documents or data collected that include any personal information will be destroyed after ten days after the study results. The print documents will be needed to scan for promotion of sports gambling organizations, such as, FanDuel, DraftKings, and etc.

Digital Materials. The digital data materials will be gathered from all digital sports media companies, including online and televised tournaments, as well as sports coverage. The social networking pages of both sports media companies and their staff will be monitored, and data will be gathered for analysis. I will also gather information from the official website pages of the sports media companies. The reason for gathering these digital materials is to gather information on the advertised sports gambling organizations as well as get information on the revenue received by the sport media companies.

Data Analysis

For analysis, this research will be processed using the following steps: (1) data organization and preparation for the review, (2) look over all the data, (3) code the data, (4) produce an overview of the data in a table, and (5) displaying the overview (Creswell & Creswell, 2018, pp. 308-309). These steps are used to review the data generally to obtain a logic of the information. After gathering the data, deeper analysis will be needed to obtain any answers to the researcher’s research questions. The researcher will interpret the data in various ways, such as plotting it and looking for connections. A table will be constructed in Excel to sort out the data, and view the correlation of the collected data. The goal of data analysis is to help tackle any objections that other researchers may have. The data collected from the focus group interview, semi-structured observation, public documents, and the digital materials will be transcribed virtually (e.g., written copy saved on computer drive or flash drive) and printed sources to protect the research data. In this qualitative study, all themes and text are evaluated, resulting in a higher study stage to determine the data. The researcher uses emerging themes from analysis to code the data to form a description and identify findings. According to Creswell & Creswell (2018), coding is the method of organizing data in the margins by grouping parts and writing a term describing a field in qualitative research (p. 308). As one of the many qualitative research codes, emergent coding is used to categorize data that emerges from the collected data (Eskolta, 2013, p. 2). The qualitative data analysis program Quirkos, which provides several methods for analyzing and reviewing qualitative data, would be used in this study.

To validate the analysis, the researcher employs a triangulate approach, analyzing information from various data sources and utilizing it to build a cohesive argument for the theories. The rich, thick description was also used to convey the findings of this study to validate the data collected. At the beginning of the study, it was difficult to recruit participants and cover all the popular media companies in the study. For future studies to not suffer, the researchers would need to advance to new leads (Creswell & Creswell, 2018, p. 313).

According to the study’s findings, the rise in legalized sports gambling has culminated in media companies advertising to profit from sports betting companies. Overall, the results have been obtained from findings drawn from the literature. The findings will confirm that sports media companies increase their focus on supporting legalized sports gambling promotions to generate a significant source of revenue.

 

References

David, J. L., Thomas, S. L., Randle, M., Bowe, S. J., & Daube, M. (2017). A comparative content analysis of media reporting of sports betting in Australia: lessons for public health media advocacy approaches. BMC public health17(1), 878. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-017-4866-7

Killick, E., & Griffiths, M. A. (2020). Thematic Analysis of Sports Bettors’ Perceptions of Sports Betting Marketing Strategies in the UK. Int J Ment Health Addiction. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-020-00405-x

Kurian, S., Sinha, S., & Nanda, N. (2019). Sports And Betting: A Media Intervention. Journal of Critical Reviews, 6(6), 84-88. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22159/jcr.06.06.12

Lawn, S., Oster, C., Riley, B., Smith, D., Baigent, M., & Rahamathulla, M. (2020). A Literature Review and Gap Analysis of Emerging Technologies and New Trends in Gambling. International journal of environmental research and public health17(3), 744. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17030744

Lopez-Gonzalez, H., & Griffiths, M. D. (2018). Understanding the convergence of markets in online sports betting. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 53(7), 807–823. https://doi.org/10.1177/1012690216680602

Lopez-Gonzalez, H., & Tulloch, C. D. (2015). Enhancing Media Sport Consumption: Online Gambling in European Football. Media International Australia, 155(1), 130–139. https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878X1515500115

Lopez-Gonzalez, H., Estévez, A. & Griffiths, M. D. (2019). Can Positive Social Perception and Reduced Stigma be a Problem in Sports Betting? A Qualitative Focus Group Study with Spanish Sports Bettors Undergoing Treatment for Gambling Disorder. J Gambl Stud, 35, 571–585. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-018-9799-2

Torrance, J., John, B., Greville, J. et al. (2021). Emergent gambling advertising; a rapid review of marketing content, delivery and structural features. BMC Public Health, 21, 718. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-10805-w

 

 

 

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