Examining Factors Affecting Consumers’ Daily Fantasy Sports and Sports Betting Participation: Comparing Motivation and Perception of Skill Versus Luck

With the Supreme Court lifting the federal ban on sports betting, dominant Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) operators including DraftKings and FanDuel have entered the sports gambling market and operate in legalized states in the United States. These providers of both DFS and sports betting are making efforts to better understand the characteristics of both DFS and sports betting consumers and develop effective marketing strategies to target each consumer segment. This research investigates the differences in motivation to participate and perception of skill vs. luck between DFS and sports betting participants. 934 adults (sports betting = 434, DFS = 500) were recruited from CloudResearch. The results from this study indicate that DFS and sports betting participants exhibited differences in their level of motivation with respect to entertainment and social interaction whereas they did not differ in terms of the motivation for financial gain and perception of skill vs. luck. The findings from this research provide meaningful insights that DFS and sports betting participants may be regarded as two independent consumer segments.