ABSTRACT
The online sports betting industry has grown exponentially since the U.S. Supreme Court legalized sports betting on May 14, 2018 (U.S. Betting Report, n.d.). Accordingly, various sport industries (e.g., major sporting media, major sporting leagues) have associated themselves rapidly and closely with this emerging and lucrative market (DraftKings, 2021a;King 2020a, 2020b). However, despite this enormous growth in the online sports betting industry, academic sport management journals have given little attention to the subject (Cason et al., 2020;Lopez-Gonzalez et al., 2020;Nosal & Lopez-Gonzalez, 2021;Stadder & Naraine, 2020). Further, although scholars have obtained valuable findings (e.g., economic motivation, sports betting operators' social media use, effect of macro environment, such as COVID-19, on online sports betting), our understanding of this sport market is still preliminary. To extend our knowledge of sport consumer behaviors related to online sports betting, this dissertation is designed to identify and examine the relationship between online sports betting motivations and online sports betting intentions. By applying extent theories (i.e., the push-pull framework, self-determination theory, and technology acceptance models) from online sport consumption and gambling studies, nine motivations to engage in online sports betting were identified: excitement;sport fandom;confidence in sport knowledge;positive/negative technology-readiness impulsivity;socialization;monetary gain;promotion, and convenience. These motivations were hypothesized to motivate online sports betting intention and examined with quota sampling data based upon the American Gaming Association's core sports bettors demographics (AGA, 2019). Confirmative factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used to examine the measurement model and the hypotheses, respectively. The results revealed that four motivations (i.e., monetary gain, excitement, convenience, and negative technology-readiness) were related to online sports betting intention, while five motivations (sport fandom, positive technology-readiness, impulsivity, socialization, and promotion) were not. The results provided foundational knowledge of what motivates and encourages sport fans to engage participate in online sports betting based upon existing theories. In addition, the findings provide practical implications, as understanding the relative importance of multiple motivations to engage in online sports betting allows practitioners to allocate resources accordingly. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)