Week 5: How Companies Take Advantage of Their Consumers

The focus of this week is to investigate some ways that sports betting companies take advantage of their consumers. For the purpose of my fourth research post, I excluded the math/stats portion, and focused only on general strategies that are used by companies. Some of my findings I already was aware of, and others were new to me and very interesting!

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I learned a lot again this week! One main exploration that I engaged in surrounded the topic of marketing. Although many factors can contribute to gambling harm, one crucial issue that we must teach our children/students about is marketing and consumerism. There are various regulations in place in Ontario to prevent the marketing of some forms of gambling, but there is not many regulations relating to the marketing of newer forms of gambling – such as online sports betting. Several scholars, such as Deans and colleagues (2017), note the importance of collecting better information about how marketing strategies may be shaping betting attitudes and behaviours. These authors also acknowledge some policy and regulatory responses that may help to counteract the risky or harmful consumption of gambling products. The study that they conducted found that most of the environments where betting advertisements are seen are not environments designed for betting. This research suggests that marketing plays a role in the normalization of gambling in sports. As educators, however, we should strive to normalize taking gambling precautions, instead. We must teach our students how companies use marketing in unsuspected ways. These strategies are sophisticated and strategically planned in a way that may take advantage of consumers.

I did, however, have some trouble again this week. One issue that I had pondered this week was how I will get this message across to my students? Specifically, how will I overcome the overwhelming messages sent from the large and powerful sports corporations. These companies hire professionals to advertise for them. Is it possible for me – a teacher – to get through to my students? I will need to try my best to get through to my students.

For next week’s research, I will be getting more in-depth with my topic by relating what I have already learned about sports betting with some mathematical and statistical facts and understandings. This will really help my project and assist me in moving forward with research on how statistics are used in sports betting.

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References

Deans, E., Thomas, S.L., Derevensky, J., & Daube M. (2017). The influence of marketing on the sports betting attitudes and consumption behaviours of young men: implications for harm reduction and prevention strategies. Harm Reduction Journal. https://harmreductionjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12954-017-0131-8