The utilization and perception of sports betting experts (‘tipsters’) among sports bettors with gambling problems: a qualitative focus group interview study

Measuring users' psychological self-withdrawal on mobile social media: the development of a context dependent instrument

Introduction

MSM users have many concerns when disclosing information, such as role conflicts and privacy risks, which can result in nondisclosure. We call these negative feelings associated with MSM use "psychological self-withdrawal" (PSW).

Methods

Using a mixed-methods design, this study develops and validates an instrument for measuring PSW in the WeChat context, based on focus-group interviews (seven participants), one-on-one interviews (eight participants), and a survey of 1200 WeChat users.

Results

The result shows that PSW measure is a four-item instrument designed to measure PSW in the WeChat context. The results of two exploratory factor analysis pilot tests (n = 91 and n = 81) and a final confirmatory factor analysis test (n = 1200) indicate that the PSW measure has good internal consistency (α = 0.839), factorial validity, and a single-factor structure.

Discussion

The study defines PSW as "users' series of negative feelings when using WeChat" and develops and validates an PSW measurement, using focus groups, interviews, and a survey. A four-item PSW with acceptable reliability and validity was finally developed.

Betting on Australian Rules Football: Can Expert Tipsters beat Randomness?

Betting on the various codes of football in Australia accounts for the majority of sports betting, with Australian rules football (AFL) by far the most popular sport in Australia. Several studies have revealed the heavy presence of gambling advertising during AFL broadcasts, and a frequently used advertising strategy involves the use of well-known AFL commentators outlining their tips and betting suggestions. To date, no research has examined the hypotheses that skill may help in predicting AFL matches and monetary outcomes from AFL betting. Rather than merely discounting such ideas, it is important to test them empirically. The aims of this study were therefore, to examine if (1) expert AFL tipsters made better predictions than random picks, (2) expert AFL tipsters gained greater monetary reward than random selection, and (3) expert tipsters' prediction accuracy improved with betting experience. To this end, six seasons of AFL matches, odds data, and expert tipster data were analysed retrospectively, totalling 1141 matches. Random selections were calculated for each match using an inbuilt random number generator within Microsoft Excel and a $2 simulated wager was applied for each AFL match. The results of mixed-effects modelling showed that experts picked more correct outcomes than random selection; experts' correct predictions were partially mediated by home-game selections; no difference in monetary outcome was observed for experts compared to random selection; experts' predictions did not improve over time. The results of this study may be used to inform both psychological interventions that target gamblers' illusions of control, and public health gambling harm prevention messaging.

Tipsters and Addiction in Spain. Young People's Perception of Influencers on Online Sports Gambling

This research analyzes young people's perception of the presence of tipsters as influencers on online sports gambling and whether their presence can promote addiction to this activity. To achieve this goal, we designed a questionnaire that was administered to young people in public universities in Madrid, being answered by 1032 individuals, out of whom 613 claimed to be regular bettors. We proceeded to the factor analysis of the variables with a high or very high correlation, and results showed that young people perceive a clear relationship between gambling and addiction. An even more enlightening aspect is the result that links tipsters with addiction to online sports gambling; young people's perception correlates both concepts with extraordinary strength. This study's main conclusion makes it clear that there is a huge amount of influence of tipsters on the world of online sports betting, as well as the risk of marrying these two concepts, since young people perceive that either they or others could be initiated into the world of problem gambling.