Betting Against The Odds: Exploring The Lived Experiences And Addictive Patterns Of Youth Sports Betting In Nsawam Ahodwo

Abstract

The research paper examines the motivations, experiences, addictive behaviours and perceived effects of sports betting among young people in Nsawam Ahodwo, one of the peri-urban in Ghana in the Eastern region. Four objectives guided the nature of the study; seeking to understand why youth bet on sports, understanding the experiences lived by youths, understanding the tendencies of addictive practices, and evaluating the perceived social, economic, and psychological consequences of betting on the wellbeing of the youths. Two theoretical frameworks, which are the social Learning Theory by Albert Bandura and the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) by Icek Ajzen, were used to support the research. Social learning theory describes how people can learn and maintain betting behaviour with the help of observation, imitation and social reinforcement, whereas the TPB describes how attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control influence intentions and actions towards sports betting. Collectively, these theories offered an all-inclusive perspective of how social pressure, individual convictions and contextual conditions combine to influence youth betting behaviours. The research design and methodology were to use a phenomenological approach to a qualitative research design in order to understand the lived experiences and meanings that the youth have towards sports betting. The target population was the youth aged between 18-35 years of residence in the Nsawam Ahodwo who had been betting sports at least six months. The implemented purposive sampling was to include eight to fifteen participants with appropriate experiences and contributions. Semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs) were used to gather the data and enable the participants to share their motivations, daily habit, emotional reactions, and the impact of betting in their lives. The data were analysed through thematic analysis, which involved systematic steps of transcription, coding and developing themes to determine patterns and insights that recurrently came out in the research objectives. Results showed that young people are interested in sports betting because of the combined economic, social and psychological factors. Betting was also seen by participants as a way of supplementing income or escaping finances in case of unemployment and lack of opportunities. On a social level, the peer pressure, neighbourhood conventions, and advertisements on the media made betting a normal practice, an intellectual and fun pastime. The emotional reinforcement, psychologically, created a feeling of thrill, excitement, and hope related to the results of the bet which kept people involved. Experiences that youth had lived demonstrated the attraction and danger of betting-even though it could offer a short-lived relief, entertainment and social collusion, it could also cause economic burdens, frustration and emotional instability as a result of frequent losses and non-fulfilled expectations. The paper also established specific tendencies of addictive behaviour, such as compulsive gambling, gambling to recover losses, feeling reliant, and neglecting the duties and finances. Such behaviours would usually intensify with time and turn betting into a hobby and escape mechanism. Its perceived effects were multivariate: economically, betting led to a state of debt and decreased productivity; socially, it caused a poor relationship, and trust in the community; psychologically, it caused anxiety, depression, and lack of self-control.