title: Fantasy sports, real money: exploration of the relationship between fantasy sports participation and gambling-related problems.
abstract: Participation in fantasy sports increases annually. Wagering on fantasy sports is a form of gambling and researchers have found that fantasy sports participants are more likely to engage in other forms of sports betting than non-fantasy players; however, no published studies have examined whether there is a relationship between fantasy sports participation and gambling-related problems. Our study examined whether fantasy sports participation is associated with gambling-related problems among college students. We assessed fantasy sports participation and endorsement of DSM-5 gambling disorder (GD) criteria among a large convenience sample (N=1556) of college students via an online health survey. We found that 11.5% of respondents participated in fantasy sports in the past year, the majority of which were males. Logistic regression analyses indicated that males who play fantasy sports for money and females who play fantasy sports (for money or not) were more likely to experience gambling-related problems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Education and Promotion, East Carolina University. 2206 Carol Belk Hall, Greenville, NC, 27858. USA. Electronic address: martinry@ecu.edu.
authors.forename: Ryan J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.affiliation: Division on Addiction, Cambridge Health Alliance & Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School. 101 Station Landing - 2nd Floor, Medford, MA 02155. USA. Electronic address: sarah_nelson@hms.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nelson
mesh_terms: D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005201:Fantasy; D005260:Female; D005715:Gambling / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012309:Risk-Taking; D013177:Sports / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013334:Students; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014495:Universities
keywords: college students; fantasy sports; gambling problems