Class Description
This course examines sports betting in the digital age, with a focus on emerging betting formats, psychological vulnerabilities, and associated mental health and substance use risks. Participants will explore who engages in sports betting, how features such as in-play wagering and simultaneous alcohol use increase harm, and why these environments resemble continuous forms of gambling. Drawing on recent empirical research, the training highlights risk factors, gambling-related harms, and clinical implications, and introduces evidence-informed strategies for assessment, harm reduction, and treatment planning with sports bettors.
Learning Objectives
- Describe at least 3 psychological or demographic characteristics commonly associated with sports bettors
- List at least 3 gambling-related harms linked to in-play sports betting and simultaneous alcohol use
- Identify at least 3 risk factors that increase vulnerability to problem sports betting in digital environments
- Describe at least 4 evidence-informed clinical strategies used to support harm reduction and treatment with sports bettors
Educational Goals
- Increase clinician understanding of how digital sports betting environments contribute to gambling-related harm
- Enhance awareness of psychological, mental health, and substance use factors associated with sports betting behavior
- Support effective identification of high-risk betting patterns, including in-play wagering and alcohol co-use
- Strengthen application of evidence-informed harm reduction and treatment strategies in clinical practice
- Promote informed, client-centered approaches to assessment and intervention with individuals who engage in sports betting
Outline
- Overview of Sports Betting and Betting Types: 10 minutes
Introduction to sports betting, key wagering formats (continuous vs. discrete, in-play vs. traditional, parlays), and how modern betting environments differ from traditional gambling - Who Bets on Sports and Associated Risk Profiles: 15 minutes
Review of demographic, psychological, mental health, and substance use characteristics associated with sports bettors, including impulsivity and emotion dysregulation - In-Play Betting and Gambling-Related Harms: 15 minutes
Examination of in-play betting features, psychological vulnerabilities, motives, and findings linking in-play betting to higher gambling severity and harm - Simultaneous Alcohol Use and Sports Betting: 15 minutes
Discussion of research on co-occurring alcohol use and gambling, including increased spending, number of bets, impulsivity, and mental health harms - Clinical Strategies and Harm Reduction Approaches: 20 minutes
Application of assessment, motivational enhancement, stimulus control, psychoeducation, cognitive restructuring, limit-setting, and relapse prevention strategies tailored to sports bettors