Relationship between Socio-Demographic Factors and Sports Betting among Football Fans in Satellite Television Football Viewing Centres in Osogbo, Osun State, Nigeria

Sports betting makes an incursion into the nooks and crannies of society and propagates capitalism in some ways. As such, it has shown far-reaching negative implications on the individual, family, community and society. The habitual betting problem affects a quantifiable extent of youth players and may show in both mental and physical conditions. Despite this, there is a dearth of studies on sports betting; specifically, a Descriptive survey research design was adopted. A simple random sampling technique was used to select the respondents, while a self-developed questionnaire was used for data collection. Descriptive statistics, including frequency counts and percentages, and the inferential Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient, were used to test the hypotheses. This study, therefore, examined the relationship between socio-demographic factors and betting in sports among football fans in satellite television football viewing centres in Osogbo, Osun State. The results revealed a significant positive relationship between peer influence and sports betting among football fans in satellite television football viewing centres in Osogbo, Osun State. The results also revealed that age relations did not have a significant positive relationship with sports betting among football fans in satellite television football viewing centres in Osogbo, Osun State (r = 0.028, p > 0.05). Furthermore, educational level had a significant positive relationship with sports betting among football fans in satellite television football viewing centres (r = 0.368, p < 0.05). Occupation did not have a significant positive relationship with sports betting among football fans in satellite television football viewing centres (r = 0.192, p > 0.05). Gender had a significant positive relationship with sports betting among football fans in satellite television football viewing centres (r = 0.468, p < 0.05). The findings of this study revealed that educational level and gender had a significant positive relationship with sports betting among football fans in satellite television football viewing centres in Osogbo, while age relations and occupation did not. The government and other relevant stakeholders should therefore ensure that fans in satellite television football viewing centres in Osogbo are enlightened on the negative consequences of sports betting.