By Reilly Cahill

With sports betting promotions sweeping the nation, there lies uncertainty and addiction among many users.

The Sports and Society Initiative added two new affiliates, Dominik Stecula and David DeAndrea, who engage in sports gambling research.

“It’s everywhere, but we don’t know a lot about how people process this kind of information and the risks they take and what happens when it comes to that decision making,” Stecula said. 

Stecula, left, is an assistant professor in the School of Communication and earned a Ph.D in political science from the University of British Columbia in 2018. 

DeAndrea, right is a professor and assistant director in the School of Communication, and acquired a Ph.D in computer-mediated communication from Michigan State University in 2011. 

Stecula researched how media and communication shaped political behavior and public opinion. DeAndrea has researched how digital communication and online environments impacted attitudes, beliefs and behaviors. 

While Stecula and DeAndrea’s research hasn’t been focused on sports in the past, the increase in sports gambling drew them into SSI.

“My research in the past hasn’t really been centered on sports,” Stecula said. “So I’m making that leap now, and having SSI-affiliated faculty who have been doing work in that space for a while is just helpful, because you just kind of have access to a lot of expertise and people who’ve been doing really interesting stuff in this space for a while.”

With SSI, Stecula will focus on how numeracy impacts society’s understanding of sports betting and the degree to which sports fandom can depolarize people.

DeAndrea will research the role of media in sports gambling and how constant connectivity to devices impacts sports betting.  

“Now, people are afforded the opportunity to gamble with these devices that they always have with them, and are constantly connected to,” DeAndrea said. “And we feel like we have the ability to explain or to study a little bit further how people’s uses of these smart devices and mobile devices might uniquely influence their betting behavior.”

DeAndrea said that taking part in events in the SSI community will be beneficial for his research.

“I could certainly see a future where this becomes an important component of an important research community for me to not only share my work, but to learn from others,” DeAndrea said. 

Stecula credited Ohio State’s resources to be able to research topics such as sports gambling.

“I can’t really think of any other places in the country that would offer better opportunities to study that intersection of sports and society,” Stecula said