Narratives Encouraging Participation in Sports Betting among University Students in Nairobi County, Kenya

The rapid expansion of digital sports betting has increased opportunities for gambling among young adults, including university students. Beyond the structural availability of betting, participation may be sustained by narratives through which students interpret betting as financially rewarding, technologically convenient, socially acceptable, entertaining or psychologically gratifying. This study examined narratives perceived to encourage participation in sports betting among university students in Nairobi County, Kenya. A descriptive cross-sectional survey design was employed. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire from 356 active gamblers. Descriptive statistics were used to examine five domains of narratives: economic and financial; technological convenience and accessibility; entertainment and psychological gratification; marketing and promotional; and social and cultural influence. Responses were measured on a five-point Likert scale, where 1=strongly agree, 2=agree, 3=neutral, 4=disagree, and 5=strongly disagree, with lower scores indicating stronger agreement. Economic and financial narratives recorded the strongest overall level of agreement (M = 2.02, SD = 1.04), followed by technological convenience and accessibility (M = 2.29, SD = 1.10). Entertainment and psychological gratification (M = 2.56, SD = 1.10) and marketing and promotional narratives (M = 2.57, SD = 1.03) showed moderate levels of agreement, whereas social and cultural narratives recorded the weakest overall influence (M = 2.94, SD = 1.08). At the item level, low socioeconomic status of parents (M = 1.85), peer introduction to betting (M = 1.87), publicity of jackpot winners (M = 1.95), use of digital money and mobile money platforms (M = 1.96), and the convenience created by internet technologies (M = 1.98) were among the most strongly endorsed narratives. The findings of this study indicate that sports betting among university students is embedded in narratives of financial expectations, technological accessibility, and peer influence. The study recommends that interventions aimed at mitigating harms associated with gambling should move beyond information about gambling-related harms to address the meanings and expectations that make betting attractive to students.