Youth sports betting: exploring associations with addictive behaviors and sport participation

Background Youth sports betting is a growing public health concern. This exploratory study scrutinizes the profile of young people who bet on sports, examining associations with addictive behaviors and sport participation. Method Through a school-based collaboration across Belgium, 11,103 young people between 12 and 24 years completed an anonymous questionnaire. Results Binary logistic regression analyses indicated that 33% of the variance in whether young people had bet on sports during the past year could be explained by the model (Nagelkerke R2 = 0.33). In the past year, sports betting was significantly (p < 0.01) associated with age, being male, use of lotteries, alcohol, psychedelics, and tobacco, and being involved in football, cycling, and combat sports. Conclusions Broadening our understanding to the link with lotteries, substance use, and sport participation, this study contributes a novel perspective to the scientific literature on youth sports betting and its underlying mechanisms. This study also suggests that sports clubs may serve as valuable settings for educating young people about the risks of sports betting, drawing on their distinctive social and pedagogical potential.