ASSESSMENT OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SPORTS BETTING AND VIEWERSHIP OF ENGLISH PREMIERSHIP LEAGUE (EPL)

ABSTRACT

The relationship between sports betting and English Premiership viewing is examined in this study. The descriptive survey research design was used in this study. Respondents from bet9ja stores in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, made up the study population. The researcher chose 456 participants at random from bet9ja outlets throughout the city for this study. This study makes use of questionnaire as the main research instrument. A combination of descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. The study’s findings revealed that Manchester United and Chelsea FC are the most popular club teams among respondents. In addition, viewers provide respondents with access to sports news and information. . The majority of the respondents watched the English Premier League in betting shops on a regular basis. Sports betting affected viewership perception, according to a hypothesis test that yielded a coefficient of determination (R2) of 9%. The F-ratio (15.22) was significant, indicating that the regression model was well-fitting. Other variables were positively significant, with the exception of Sport news, which increased sports betting and watching. Both Sports betting affected viewership perception and Football matches influence sport betting choice had significant (p 0.05) results. As a result, the study advised that betting outlets stay active and always broadcast live sports.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the study

The first organized scrimmage between members of the Philadelphia Eagles in 1934 was used to demonstrate the world’s first electronic television system. The first professional football game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Brooklyn Dodgers was televised to around 1,000 television sets five years later (Cressman & Swenson, 2007). The National Football League (NFL) quickly recognized the opportunity for revenue as television became more popular in the 1950s, and began selling broadcasting rights to a television network called DuMont. The first full season of the English Premier League (EPL) was aired by CBS in 1992. (Cressman & Swenson, 2007). Sports enthusiasts now have 24-hour access to sports entertainment thanks to the industry’s growth.

Aside from visiting sporting events in person, television broadcasts have long been the principal source of sports entertainment. According to the NFL and Nielsen Media Research, average viewership of NFL regular season games on ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX climbed from 15.8 million in 2002 to 16.6 million in 2008. More specific to primetime Sunday night football on NBC, the 2008 Nielsen ratings reveal that the number of viewers ranged from approximately 11 million to 23 million per game. Mega events like the Super Bowl and the Olympics drew over 90 million and 30 million viewers at different points during their broadcasts in 2008. Furthermore, in 2007, FOX Saturday Baseball drew an average of 3.8 million viewers per Saturday.

In the United Kingdom, the social practice of betting has been subject to varied degrees of governmental supervision, reaching a ‘high water mark’ in 1906, according to some. Betting was essentially an underground activity and one subject to significant (if evadable) punishment from the 1906 Street Betting Act to the 1960 Betting and Gaming Act. The 1960 legislation launched a new course in British betting, allowing for more tolerance and the introduction of high-street betting shops. Betting was largely based on the notion of ‘unstimulated demand’ from 1960 and the passage of the National Lottery Act in 1993. The 2005 Betting Act, which considerably liberalized betting rules, authorized (through regulation) internet betting, and allowed betting corporations to air television advertisements, was swept away by the New Labour administration. These legislative reforms in the UK have broader implications than those typically connected with territorially bound governance of states, and have contributed to the ‘convergence of a worldwide passion for sport and a global enthusiasm for betting’ in an era of globalization. This convergence has received insufficient attention in the public health literature, notably in the United Kingdom, and is especially evident in football contexts.

Since the 2005 Act, some of the most visible relationships formed by betting companies in the UK have been with English Premier League clubs (EPL). With broadcasters paying fees to the EPL for the right to display matches and highlights in 225 nations, the EPL is a significant export for the UK economy. The EPL claims that 2.3 billion fans tuned in for the entire 10 months of the 2013/2014 season, and that 3 billion in-home viewers tuned in for the 2014/2015 season. Between 2016 and 2019, Sky Sports and BT Sport paid £5.136 billion for broadcast rights in the current television deal. As a result, it is evident that the EPL can be a useful tool.

One betting company sponsors England’s second, third, and fourth-tier leagues, indicating that the sector has made considerable inroads within the English Football League. In order to stay competitive, television networks such as CBS and ESPN have included “betting updates” into their TV sports news coverage to satisfy the seemingly limitless need for up-to-date player information. According to the FSTA, “55 percent of those surveyed indicate that they watch more sports on television due of their involvement in sports betting leagues,” implying that sports betting and television broadcasts are complementary. (2006) (Prescott)

 Statement of the problem

According to the European Gaming and Betting Association, sports betting is a rapidly growing market with a global turnover of 58 billion euros in 2015. This amount exceeds the gross domestic product of nations like Panama and Costa Rica, yet these official figures obscure the fact that illegal betting accounts for a significant portion of the total. While the market is large and growing, little is known about the demand for sporting bets because most research focus on betting market inefficiencies or match fixing. One factor contributing to the research gap is the lack of evaluable data. While access has not been granted until now, knowledge about the market is critical for a variety of reasons: To begin, it is critical to integrate sporting bets in comparable analyses in order to have a better understanding of the economic impact of individual athletic events. Until far, most research has concentrated on ticket sales, television (TV) contracts, and merchandising, ignoring the economic importance of sports wagers (Roberts, Roche, Jones, & Munday, 2016). However, the findings of this study show that the economic value of sports betting may outweigh total viewing. As a result, the economic value of sports competition has been undervalued in the past.

Although there is a lot of anecdotal evidence on the effects of sports betting on television networks and advertisers, there are no scholarly studies to back up these statements to our knowledge. In this study, we look at how sports betting affects sports television viewing in both the NFL and the EPL. We can determine not only that sports betting is a complement to televised sports but also the extent of this relationship using regression analysis. This latter information should be very valuable to sports marketing pros when putting together a marketing strategy.

Second, while betting exchanges or bookies’ revenue does not directly benefit clubs, they benefit indirectly from increased betting.

To our knowledge, Humphreys, Paul, and Weinbach (2013) and Paul and Weinbach (2010) are the only studies that look at the factors that influence demand for sports bets. While Paul and Weinbach (2010) look into the number of bets made on NBA and NHL games, Humphreys et al(2013) .’s study is the only one that breaks down the amount of money wagered on men’s basketball games in the NCAA. Both studies suggest that the factors that influence sports betting demand are similar to those that influence fan behavior, such as team quality, TV coverage, timing, and outcome uncertainty. Given the paucity of research on the factors that influence betting volume in a fast-growing industry, While point spread betting is popular in the United States, match odds betting is popular in Europe. In terms of odds, European betting might have heavy underdogs and favorites, whereas American betting has equal odds on both teams. The second analysis is for soccer, which is the most popular sport in Europe, with the English Premier League being the most economically important league. The third step is to conduct preliminary study utilizing data from betting exchanges. Forth, it is the first analysis of a high turnover betting platform. Bettors wager an average of 2.7 million pounds per Premier League match. Our findings show that the quality of the competing teams has a significant impact on the demand for sports betting. Time, economic conditions, and the uncertainty of the conclusion all have an impact. This research is structured as follows: The next part contains an overview of the literature on sports betting in general as well as potential market inefficiencies. The following empirical analysis examines the factors that influence betting volumes and matched bets in the English Premier League.

Objective Of The Study

The study’s main goal is to investigate and analyse the relationship between sports betting and English Premier League viewing (EPL).

1. To see how much sports betting influences Premier League viewing in the United Kingdom.
2. Determine how betters perceive the nature of English Premiership watching.
3. To see how much sport betting affects Premier League viewing in the United Kingdom.
4. To see how much football matches influence sports betting decisions.

Research Questions

1. To what extent does sports betting influence English Premier League viewership?
2. What do betters think about the English Premiership’s viewership?
3. To what extent does sport betting affect English Premier League viewership?
4. How much do football matches influence your sport betting decision?

Hypotheses Of The Study

H0: Sports betting has no substantial impact on English Premier League viewing.

H1: Sports betting has a substantial impact on English Premier League viewership.

Significance Of The Study

Focusing on sporting bets puts the economic importance of league matches into context and enables for comparisons between teams within and between leagues. Furthermore, studying demand for sports bets might help you better understand demand for sporting events in general. Even though there is a lot of research on what motivates people to attend sporting events, there are still some questions, particularly about the impact of result uncertainty.

The uncertainties around demand for athletic events and the role of result uncertainty may be owing to empirical challenges such as filtered data due to stadium sellouts, inaccessible data such as TV or internet stream audience, or problems with the inclusion of (ticket) costs. Because demand is not restricted and specific numbers on demand and pricing are available, using data on betting demand lowers methodological difficulties. Hence, results can deliver valuable information on determinants of demand for sport events in general.

Scope of the study

The research is focused on determining the association between sports betting and English Premier League viewing. The study focuses on bet9ja outlets in Rivers State’s Port-Harcourt City.