BACKGROUND:
Sports betting is now an established public health concern in modern Australia, where it has become particularly prevalent among young men, who are overrepresented as a group in their experiences of gambling-related harm. Gambling among men has proven popular in pubs and other gambling spheres in the past, but sports betting is growing increasingly commonplace in young people’s private homes, though there is little existing research that investigates the practice within this new domain.

METHODS:
Ten in-depth interviews with young male gamblers were conducted, focusing on sports betting’s place in their everyday lives, relationships, and domestic spaces. Engaging with gender and public health scholarship in both gambling and sports studies, this research explores key questions of sports betting motivations and associated harms both inside and outside of the home.

RESULTS:
Though previous studies have highlighted pubs and betting shops as spaces within which men’s gambling is legitimised, these findings highlight the increased normalisation of sports betting as a leisure practice within domestic spaces and intimate relationships. Smartphone gambling apps play a key role in this normalisation process, exposing young men, as well as their intimate partners, to an increased risk of gambling-related harm.

CONCLUSIONS:
This research highlights the role of the smartphone in normalising sports betting in young men’s everyday lives, and the ways in which digital technologies amplify health risks with relation to gambling practices. These interpretivist findings complement dominant positivist approaches in gambling research to provide a more comprehensive understanding of sports gambling among young people.