Sports betting advertising and its’ influence on betting behaviour of young people, a case of Uasin Gishu County, Kenya

Abstract

Kenya is ranked as the country with the highest number of youth who engage in sports betting activities in Africa with an estimated 76% of its youth engaging in sports betting. Advertising of sports betting has been a common phenomenon in Kenya, and despite regulation and enactment of laws to control it in the mainstream media young people access sports betting messages through unregulated social media channels. This has led to rising cases of young people who get into betting addiction, engaging in criminal activities, family strife, bankruptcy and other betting related social ills. There exists little research on advertising of sports betting messages and its influence on the behavior of young people in Kenya and thus this study aimed to examine this scenario. Specifically, the study sought to answer three research questions: How do young people access communication messages regarding sports betting? How do media advertisements regarding betting shape young people's betting behaviors? and, How do young people make sense of communication messages aimed at regulating sports betting activities? The study was guided by two theories viz.; reception theory and theory of reasoned action and employed a qualitative research design to collect and analyze data. Purposive sampling was used to select 24 participants from selected sports betting cyber cafes within Eldoret town. Data was generated through in-depth interviews which were recorded and thereafter transcribed and coded through three coding stages; open coding, axial coding, and selective coding. Data was analyzed thematically and presented in narrative form. The study findings revealed that despite government regulation, betting advertisements are available and accessible in the mainstream media and unregulated social media channels. Some young people have acquired wealth and achieved celebrity status through sports betting outcomes, thereby acting as a motivation and create curiosity to other young people. In addition, frequent betting advertisements have driven young people into financial instability through loan borrowing. The study further revealed that young people believe that government regulations on sports betting advertisements infringe on their freedom of access to betting information. Sport betting is often perceived as harmless and can be done for leisure and financial gain. The study concludes that unregulated access to sport betting messages exposes young people to risks and harmful betting behaviors. Owing to the difficulty in regulating social media advertisements, the study recommends that the government establishes training programs to enlighten young people on the risks associated with consumption of sport betting messages and the consequences of engaging in these activities.