Communication Scholars Should Help Uncover the Causes and Consequences of Mobile Sports Gambling: A Call for Research and Theory Development

Abstract

Advances in communication technology have led to sharp increases in sports betting via smartphones and other mobile devices around the world. At the same time, legal changes in places such as the United States have drastically altered the media ecosystem surrounding sports. As a result, sports betting now permeates many facets of sports media coverage and the broader culture of sports. Despite these developments, mobile sports gambling has received relatively little attention from communication scholars. In this agenda-setting commentary, we argue that communication researchers are uniquely positioned to elucidate the causes and consequences of mobile sports betting and build and test theory related to this issue. In doing so, we illustrate research opportunities for studying mobile sports gambling across the field. We begin by documenting the rapid increase in mobile sports betting and gambling-related media content in society. We then explain why features of mobile sports betting and the contemporary media ecosystem combine to create complexities that require the attention of communication scholars. Finally, we bolster our arguments with survey data from a sample of 1,075 American adults who reported using a mobile device to gamble on sports in the past year.