Sports betting by college students: who bets and how often?.

INTRODUCTIONGambling has always had a presence at college and university athletic events, but only occasionally does it go beyond the publicity wager between the presidents of the contesting institutions, or the friendly bet of a beer by opposing alumni. Scandals do occur. Points are shaved. Organized criminals and other nefarious off campus persons influence, or try to influence games (Strosnider, 1996). Athletes and athletic programs are destroyed. Histories of major collegiate sports invariably include coverage of scandals brought about by wagering (Isaacs, 1984).

In the last several years, something new has appeared: Sports betting networks operated on campus by students. Rings of illegal bookmaking by college students were uncovered during the last several years at universities in Michigan, Florida, South Carolina, Texas, Arkansas, Iowa, Maine, and Rhode Island (Rhoden, 1992). The consequences of student participation in illegal wagering has ranged from reprimands and suspensions to criminal convictions. Administrators and athletic officials are concerned with possible student-athlete involvement in gambling--an unfortunate circumstance which has been documented on some campuses.

Betting on sports by college students and student-athletes has gained the attention of the national news media. Sports Illustrated lead the way with a three part article (Layden, 1995), while other national print and broadcast media have followed. The National Collegiate Athletic Association has also taken an interest. Currently, they have a "gambling issues representative," and, as a part of an infractions survey, found that 3.7% of the Division I studentathletes reported having gambled money on a game in which they played, and 25.5% said they had gambled money on other college sporting events. Only one-half of one percent reported receiving money from a gambler for not playing well in a game (Cullen and Latessa, 1996).

Studies have shown that a large percentage of college students do gamble, and occasionally this may lead to financial, academic, and psychological problems. Pathological gambling is now widely acknowledged as a psychopathology (Knapp & Lech, 1986); one which can have a disastrous outcome as the lives of several professional athletes have documented. In the only national survey of college students, Lesieur, et al (1991) sampled campuses in five different states and found that over 90% of the males, and nearly as many of the females, (82%) had gambled. About one-third of the males claimed to do so weekly. The prevalence of pathological gambling among the students ranged from 4% to 8%. Sports betting on a weekly basis was reported by 3.5% of the sample. As in other gambling activities, many more males reported weekly wagering than females, 7% of the males bet on sports, compared to less than one percent of the females for the five state average.

If university students desire to bet on athletics events, those over 21 years of age may easily do so in Las Vegas. It is legal in Nevada to wager on sporting events, except when teams of the University of Nevada system are involved. While the UNLV student body may not be representative of college students nationally, they do provide a baseline against which to assess other findings, a baseline representing exposure to the most extensive and intense gaming environment available in the United States. Thus, samples drawn from UNLV afford a measure obtainable in few, if any, other place.

METHODSUBJECTSStudents who voluntarily participated in this study were sampled from Introductory Psychology classes at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Classes in Introductory Psychology were chosen because of the wide range of disciplines that include the course as a part of their core requirements. The sample of 544 students was nearly evenly divided between males (49.4%) and females (49.9%), with a mean age of 22 (57% were under 21 years of age). Residents of Nevada comprised 86% of the sample.

INSTRUMENTATION AND PROCEDUREThe questionnaire consisted of 100 items and was part of a larger project with the goal of determining multiple aspects of gambling behavior in college students. The students were informed about the nature of the study, and given time to complete the questionnaire in class. Anonymity for all participants was assured and informed consent obtained.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONBefore presenting the specific items which address sports betting, it may be useful to know the rate at which other kinds of gambling activities were reported by the students. The lifetime prevalence of any form of gambling (had they ever gambled on anything in their life) was 97% for males and 91% for females. When asked about weekly or more frequent gambling, the rates dropped to 37% for males and 16% for females. The most frequent form of gaming for both males and females was playing video-poker machines. One-quarter of the males, and one in ten of the females, reported gambling on video-poker machines at least once a week or more.

The lifetime prevalence for betting on any kind of sports event was 64%, it dropped to 13% for within the past year, 8% for the within past month, and 7% for wagering once a week or more. There was a significant difference by gender in sports betting, as is evident when comparing the lifetime prevalence of sports betting for males (at 50%) to females (at 23%), x2 (1, N=544)= 36.67, p <.01. The disparity is greater, and perhaps more accurate, when comparing rates for "bet on sports once a week or more," which for males was 13% of the students and for females 2%, again a significant difference x2 (1, N=544)=16.24, p <.01. Sports wagering by college students appears largely, though not exclusively, a male activity.

Another question addressed whether the sports wagering was on their college teams; participants were asked "Do you bet with a friend or a bookie on your college's sports team?" Over seventy percent of the students denied that they had ever bet on UNLV teams. Another 14% said they had bet with a friend, 3% with a bookie, and 3% with a friend and a bookie. (Students were not asked if they were members of intercollegiate athletic teams).

Students may wager on athletic events for a variety of reasons. One possibility is that wagering is used to increase interest in a sporting event. A small percentage (2%) of the sample said they bet "all of the time" to increase interest, while a few (6%) said they did "most of the time." Over three quarters of the students (79%) claimed to "never or almost never" wager as a way of increasing interest in an athletic event. When asked a similar question, but one specific to their own university, 9% said they had bet to increase interest in a UNLV game.

Though living in a state which provides the opportunity for daily sports betting, few college students bet on athletic events, only about 7% claimed to do so on a weekly basis. THis is, however, double the percentage reported for the five state average of Lesieur, et al., (1991). In the current sample, males were six times as likely to participate in sports betting on a weekly basis as females, a finding consistent with that of Lesieur, et al (1991).

In an environment filled with gambling opportunities for college students, sports betting accounted for very little of the preferred forms of wagering. Nearly as large a percentage of the sample (5%) reported "weekly or more frequent" wagering on bowling, shooting pool, golf, or some other game of skill as on sports betting. Gambling may present a serious challenge to university students (Oster & Knapp, in review), but sports wagering appears to be a significant problem in only a few highly publicized cases.

Added material.

STEVEN L. OSTER.

Student Psychological Services.

TERRY J. KNAPP.

Department of Psychology University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

REFERENCESCullen, F. T., & Latessa, E. J. (1996). The extent and sources of NCAA rule infractions: A national self-report study of student athletes. A Report to the National Collegiate Athletic Association, Overland Park, Kansas.

Isaacs, N. D. (1984). All the moves: A History of college basketball. New York: Harper & Collins.

Knapp, T. J., & Lech, B. C. (1987). Pathological gambling: A review with recommendations. Advances in Behavior Research and Therapy, 9, 21-49.

Layden, T. (1995, April 3, 10, 17). Campus gambling. Part 1, 2, 3 Sports Illustrated, 69-90; 69-79; 46-55.

Lesieur, H. R., Cross, J., Frank, M., Welch, M., White, C., Rubenstein, G., Moseley, K., & Mark, M. (1991). Gambling and pathological gambling among university students. Addictive Behaviors, 16, 517-527.

Oster, S., & Knapp, T. J. (under review). Casino and pathological gambling by underage patrons: Two studies of a university population.

Rhoden, W. C. (1992, April 28). Newest concern for colleges; Increases in sports gambling. New York Times, 141, p. A1.