Sports betting amongst Iowa State University students rose in popularity after the 88th General Assembly legalized sports betting, including on collegiate sports, under SF 617 during the 2019 legislative session.
Sportsbooks can run advertisements and promotions to attract new customers. It can also track users’ locations and target them accordingly.
“You see a lot in Ames and a lot in Iowa City,” Joanna Schroeder, associate teaching professor in the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication at Iowa State University, said. “You’ll see it a lot in markets that have strong college athletic programs, especially in markets that don’t have professional sports teams. If you get them in college and you’re keeping them, then sportsbooks will increase their advertising to college students.”
In order to get people to start betting, sportsbooks put out deals applying to people’s first bet.
“I actually got started because Fanatics, the sports clothing company, has an app to use, and if you signed up, you got a bunch of free fan cash to use,” Drew Greenwood, a senior studying finance, said. “So I literally got two free jerseys just for signing up. My roommate uses the same app, and we couldn’t believe the deal was real because it was like free money.”
This is not uncommon among sportsbooks, as they are all trying to attract more bettors and distinguish themselves.
“There are a lot of competing brands, and most of the people who are betting on one site are betting on competing sites as well,” Schroeder said.
Sportsbooks also offer bonus bets to increase bettor engagement.
“I placed my first bet because it was with the first-time betting bonus, where if you bet $5 and win, they give you $300 in bonus bets. Which you can use to bet and win more profit,” Jeremy Pierre, a senior studying software engineering, said.
Advertising small bet amounts helps grab attention. Greenwood said he bets three or four times a week and spends $10-$15 per week. Pierre says he bets once every two to three weeks and spends $5 or less per bet.
While these deals and low-threshold bets may entice someone to bet, students keep betting because it has become a social activity.
“On some of the sports betting apps, you can share bets and join in on your friends’ bets,” Greenwood said. “So, I think it has become a social thing. Especially sometimes others will be like, ‘Who wants to ride this parlay with me?’ And it’s like, alright, I’ll throw a dollar on it.”
Sportsbooks generate billions of dollars of revenue annually.
“Because of sports gambling, there’s so many hundreds of dollars being spent, and you have such young people who are developing gambling problems. I do foresee that we’re going to see additional regulation on the sportsbook advertising,” Schroeder said.
