Gambling has become a more prominent aspect of American sports culture after the 2018 United States Supreme Court decision offered in Murphy v National Collegiate Athletic Association that rendered the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) unconstitutional. A secondary analysis of 2022 PEW American Trends Panel (ATP) data (N = 3900) explores social media news exposure and satisfaction as predictors of the salience of, attitudes toward, and behavioral engagement with sports gambling. Social media news exposure and satisfaction do not predict individual-level salience of the expanded legalization of sports betting. However, social media news exposure and an individual’s satisfaction with news content on X, Facebook, and YouTube positively predict feelings that sports betting is good for society and sports culture. Social media news exposure positively predicts sports gambling behaviors. A broader media effects research agenda pertaining to sports gambling is outlined based on these findings.
AlkhodairS. A.DingS. H. H.FungB. C. M.LiuJ. (2020). Detecting breaking news rumors of emerging topics in social media. Information Processing & Management, 57(2), Article 102018. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ipm.2019.02.016
Annenberg IOD Collaborative. (2023). Democracy amid crises: Polarization, pandemic, protests, and persuasion. Oxford University Press.
5.
ArceneauxK.NickersonD. W. (2009). Who is mobilized to vote? A re-analysis of 11 field experiments. American Journal of Political Science, 53(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5907.2008.00354.x
6.
BoukesM.Van de VeldeB.AraujoT.VliegenthartR. (2020). What’s the tone? Easy doesn’t do it: Analyzing performance and agreement between off-the-shelf sentiment analysis tools. Communication Methods and Measures, 14(2), 83–104. https://doi.org/10.1080/19312458.2019.1671966
7.
BradleyB. (1992). The professional and amateur sports protection act - policy concerns behind Senate Bill 474. Seton Hall Journal of Sport Law, 2(1), 5–19.
8.
BryanovK.VziatyshevaV. (2021). Determinants of individuals’ belief in fake news: A scoping review determinants of belief in fake news. PLoS One, 16(6), Article e0253717. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0253717
9.
CalerK. R.Vargas GarciaJ. R.NowerL. (2017). Problem gambling among ethnic minorities: Results from an epidemiological study. Asian Journal of Gambling Issues and Public Health, 7(1), 7–13. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40405-017-0027-2
10.
CasonD.LeeM.LeeJ.YeoI. S.ArnerE. J. (2020). The impact of legalization of sports gambling: How motivation, fandom, and gender influence sport-related consumption. International Journal of Sport Communication, 13(4), 643–654. https://doi.org/10.1123/ijsc.2020-0022
11.
CohenB. C. (1963). The press and foreign policy. Princeton University Press.
12.
ColemanR.McCombsM.ShawD.WeaverD. (2009). Agenda setting. In Wahl-JorgensonK.HanitzschT. (Eds.), The handbook of journalism studies (pp. 167–180). Routledge.
De JansS. (2023). The effectiveness of betting odds in digital gambling advertising for sports betting. International Gambling Studies, 23(1), 75–95. https://doi.org/10.1080/14459795.2022.2079705
15.
DilliplaneS. (2011). All the news you want to hear: The impact of partisan news exposure on political participation. Public Opinion Quarterly, 75(2), 287–316. https://doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfr006
16.
DowJ. (2023). Ethics of advertising. In The routledge handbook of philosophy and media ethics (pp. 205–216). Routledge.
17.
FishbeinM.AjzenI. (2015). Predicting and changing behavior: The reasoned action approach. Routledge.
18.
FletcherR.NielsenR. K. (2018). Are people incidentally exposed to news on social media? A comparative analysis. New Media & Society, 20(7), 2450–2468. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444817724170
19.
FlinthamM.KarnerC.BachourK.CreswickH.GuptaN.MoranS. (2018). Falling for fake news: Investigating the consumption of news via social media. In Proceedings of the 2018 CHI conference on human factors in computing systems (pp. 1–10). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3173574.3173950
20.
GerberA. S.GreenD. P.LarimerC. W. (2008). Social pressure and voter turnout: Evidence from a large-scale field experiment. American Political Science Review, 102(1), 33–48. https://doi.org/10.1017/S000305540808009X
21.
Gil de ZúñigaH.DiehlT. (2019). News finds me perception and democracy: Effects on political knowledge, political interest, and voting. New Media & Society, 21(6), 1253–1271. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444818817548
22.
Gil de ZúñigaH.González-GonzálezP.GoyanesM. (2022). Pathways to political persuasion: Linking online, social media, and fake news with political attitude change through political discussion. American Behavioral Scientist, Available OnlineFirsthttps://doi.org/10.1177/00027642221118272
23.
Gil de ZúñigaH.WeeksB.Ardèvol-AbreuA. (2017). Effects of the news-finds-me perception in communication: Social media use implications for news seeking and learning about politics. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 22(3), 105–123. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcc4.12185
GoyderE.BlankL.BaxterS.van SchalkwykM. C. (2020). Tackling gambling related harms as a public health issue. The Lancet Public Health, 5(1), e14–e15. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(19)30243-9
26.
GvirsmanS. D. (2014). It's not that we don't know, it's that we don't care: Explaining why selective exposure polarizes attitudes. Mass Communication & Society, 17(1), 74–97. https://doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2013.816738
HingN.RussellA. M. T.LamontM.VitartasP. (2017). Bet anywhere, anytime: An analysis of Internet sports bettors’ responses to gambling promotions during sports broadcasts by problem gambling severity. Journal of Gambling Studies, 33(4), 1051–1065. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-017-9671-9
29.
HoldenJ. T.EdelmanM. (2020). A short treatise on sports gambling and the law: How America regulates its most lucrative vice. SSRN Electronic Journal, 2020(5), 907–974. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3556122
30.
HowellK. (2020). You can bet on it: The legal evolution of sports betting. Harvard Journal of Sports & Entertainment Law, 11(1), 73–114.
JohnstoneP.ReganM. (2020). Gambling harm is everybody’s business: A public health approach and call to action. Public Health, 184, 63–66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2020.06.010
33.
KassingJ. W.BillingsA. C.BrownR. S.HaloneK. K.HarrisonK.KrizekB.MeanL. J.TurmanP. D.TurmanP. D. (2004). Communication in the community of sport: The process of enacting, (re) producing, consuming, and organizing sport. Annals of the International Communication Association, 28(1), 373–409. https://doi.org/10.1080/23808985.2004.11679040
34.
KillickE. A.GriffithsM. D. (2021). Why do individuals engage in in-play sports betting? A qualitative interview study. Journal of Gambling Studies, 37(1), 221–240. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-020-09968-9
35.
KsiazekT. B.KimS. J.MalthouseE. C. (2019). Television news repertoires, exposure diversity, and voting behavior in the 2016 US election. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 96(4), 1120–1144. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077699018815892
36.
LaBrieR.ShafferH. J. (2011). Identifying behavioral markers of disordered Internet sports gambling. Addiction Research and Theory, 19(1), 56–65. https://doi.org/10.3109/16066359.2010.512106
37.
LambosC.DelfabbroP. (2007). Numerical reasoning ability and irrational beliefs in problem gambling. International Gambling Studies, 7(2), 157–171. https://doi.org/10.1080/14459790701387428
38.
LeeJ. K.KimE. (2017). Incidental exposure to news: Predictors in the social media setting and effects on information gain online. Computers in Human Behavior, 75, 1008–1015. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.02.018
LopezJ. K. (2022). The construction of sports fandom by sports betting companies. In Routledge handbook of sport fans and fandom (pp. 285–294). Routledge.
41.
Lopez-GonzalezH.EstévezA.GriffithsM. D. (2019). Internet-based structural characteristics of sports betting and problem gambling severity: Is there a relationship?International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 17(6), 1360–1373. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-018-9876-x
42.
Lopez-GonzalezH.GriffithsM. D.EstévezA. (2020). Why some sports bettors think gambling addiction prevented them from becoming winners? A qualitative approach to understanding the role of knowledge in sports betting products. Journal of Gambling Studies, 36(3), 903–920. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-020-09944-3
43.
Lopez-GonzalezH.Guerrero-SoléF.GriffithsM. D. (2018). A content analysis of how ‘normal’ sports betting behaviour is represented in gambling advertising. Addiction Research and Theory, 26(3), 238–247. https://doi.org/10.1080/16066359.2017.1353082
44.
LuoM.HancockJ. T.MarkowitzD. M. (2022). Credibility perceptions and detection accuracy of fake news headlines on social media: Effects of truth-bias and endorsement cues. Communication Research, 49(2), 171–195. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650220921321
45.
MaceyJ.AbarbanelB.HamariJ. (2021). What predicts esports betting? A study on consumption of video games, esports, gambling and demographic factors. New Media & Society, 23(6), 1481–1505. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444820908510
46.
MarchicaL. A.KeoughM. T.MontreuilT. C.DerevenskyJ. L. (2020). Emotion regulation interacts with gambling motives to predict problem gambling among emerging adults. Addictive Behaviors, 106, Article 106378. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2020.106378
McCombsM.ValenzuelaS. (2021). Setting the agenda (3rd ed.). Polity.
49.
NoelJ. K.RosenthalS. R.SammartinoC. J. (2023). Correlates of gambling and gambling problems among Rhode Island young adults: A cross-sectional study. Journal of Public Health, 45(2), e164–e170. https://doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdac023
PetrottaB. A. (2023). From prohibition to promotion: Framing and sourcing the legalization of sports betting in the US. Communication & Sport, https://doi.org/10.1177/21674795231193132
53.
PipalC.SongH.BoomgaardenH. G. (2023). If you have choices, why not choose (and share) all of them? A multiverse approach to understanding news engagement on social media. Digital Journalism, 11(2), 255–275. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2022.2036623
54.
PriorM. (2007). Post-broadcast democracy: How media choice increases inequality in political involvement and polarizes elections. Cambridge University Press.
55.
RaetherA. (2019). Commandeering, preemption, and vehicle emissions regulation post-Murphy v. NCAA. Northwestern University Law Review, 114(4), 1015–1059.
56.
RobertsK. (2004). Leisure inequalities, class divisions and social exclusion in present-day Britain. Cultural Trends, 13(2), 57–71. https://doi.org/10.1080/0954896042000267152
RuihleyB. J.BillingsA. C.BuzzelliN. (2021). A swiftly changing tide: Fantasy sport, gambling, and alternative forms of participation. Games and Culture, 16(6), 681–701. https://doi.org/10.1177/1555412020966161
SeateA. A.MastroD. (2017). Exposure to immigration in the news: The impact of group-level emotions on intergroup behavior. Communication Research, 44(6), 817–840. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650215570654
61.
SharmanS.PiperT.McGraneE.NewallP. W. (2023). Gambling adverts in live TV coverage of the Qatar 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup. Addiction Research and Theory, (Available OnlineFirst), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1080/16066359.2023.2245330
62.
SorokaS. N. (2012). The gatekeeping function: Distributions of information in media and the real world. The Journal of Politics, 74(2), 514. https://doi.org/10.1017/S002238161100171X
63.
StadderE.NaraineM. L. (2020). Place your bets: An exploratory study of sports-gambling operators’ use of twitter for relationship marketing. International Journal of Sport Communication, 13(2), 157–180. https://doi.org/10.1123/ijsc.2019-0114
64.
TusseyE. (2023). “Action on the game”: Sports gambling as fan identity and transactional participation. Television & New Media, 24(4), 363–379. https://doi.org/10.1177/15274764221115870
65.
Valenciano-MendozaE.Mora-MaltasB.Mestre-BachG.MunguíaL.RichardJ.DerevenskyJ. L.PotenzaM. N.Jiménez-MurciaS.Jiménez-MurciaS. (2023). Clinical correlates of sports betting: A systematic review. Journal of Gambling Studies, 39(2), 579–624. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-023-10196-0
66.
Van der MaasM.ChoS. R.NowerL. (2022). Problem gambling message board activity and the legalization of sports betting in the US: A mixed methods approach. Computers in Human Behavior, 128. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2021.107133.
67.
VieiraJ. L.KimH. S.ClarkL.TabriN.WohlM. J. (2023). This time with feeling: In-play sports betting as a vehicle for emotion regulation. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 37(8), 1080–1088. https://doi.org/10.1037/adb0000966
VragaE. K.TullyM. (2021). News literacy, social media behaviors, and skepticism toward information on social media. Information, Communication & Society, 24(2), 150–166. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2019.1637445
70.
WangZ.IrwinM.CooperC.SrivastavaJ. (2015). Multidimensions of media multitasking and adaptive media selection. Human Communication Research, 41(1), 102–127. https://doi.org/10.1111/hcre.12042
71.
WannD. L.ZapalacR. K.GrieveF. G.PartridgeJ. A.LanterJ. R. (2015). An examination of sport fans’ perceptions of the impact of the legalization of sport wagering on their fan experience. UNLV Gaming Research and Review Journal, 19(2), 21–40. Available at. https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/grrj/vol19/iss2/4
WeeksB. E.HolbertR. L. (2013). Predicting dissemination of news content in social media: A focus on reception, friending, and partisanship. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 90(2), 212–232. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077699013482906
