Sports Betting and College Students

Author:

Kisciras, Zackary

Area of Honors:

Hospitality Management

Degree:

Bachelor of Science

Document Type:

Thesis

Thesis Supervisors:

Phillip Michael Jolly, Thesis Supervisor
Phillip Michael Jolly, Thesis Honors Advisor
Anna S. Mattila, Faculty Reader

Keywords:

Sports Betting

Abstract:

This research paper named Sports Betting and College Students analyzes the affects that mobile sports betting is having on college students. Mobile sports betting is a relatively new research topic, and therefore there has not been a lot of research at this point into how it affects college students. To find out how mobile sports betting affects students on college campuses and to learn more about the growth of this activity, 166 students were surveyed on the campus of the Pennsylvania State University in University Park, PA. Students were asked questions about many different aspects of their relationship with mobile sports betting including, the frequency of their participation, the amount of people who they personally know that participate in the activity, how they originally learned about mobile sports betting, what their thoughts are on the activity and their experiences with it both positive and negative. The results showed overall that there is a high participation and awareness of mobile sports betting among college students at Penn State. The results also showed that the students mainly had a positive view of mobile sports betting and enjoyed participating in the activity in groups. Lastly, the results showed that most students are using mobile sports betting responsibly, while a smaller percentage have experienced issues with it. What was learned most from this study is that mobile sports betting is a rapidly growing industry and has a strong presence on college campuses. It is the hope that this study will encourage others to conduct research on the effects of mobile sports betting on college campuses so that we can learn more about this area going forward.