Understanding sports betting as an emerging behavioral addiction among young men in Ethiopia

Background: Sports betting is one of the most popular, rapidly evolving, and attractive forms of gambling. It is associated with an increased risk of gambling-related harms, including relationship difficulties, crime, and physical and mental health problems. Understanding the subjective experiences of sports betting is essential for accurately defining problematic betting and avoiding the overpathologization of the behavior. Hence, this study explored the perceptions and experiences of young men involved in sports betting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Methods: We employed a qualitative study design using a phenomenological approach. In-depth interviews were conducted with thirteen purposively selected participants in Addis Ababa. Participants were adults aged 18 years or older who had engaged in sports betting within the past 12 months. They were recruited from sports betting houses. All interviews were transcribed verbatim and translated into English. The data were imported into OpenCode software and analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis, in which themes were actively generated through an iterative and interpretative process by the research team. Findings: The data resulted in five major themes: reasons for engagement in sports betting, unique and attractive features of sports betting, experiences of problematic betting, subjective harms of sports betting, and coping and recovery. Young men engaged in sports betting for financial gain, peer influence, and as a way of spending time and coping with boredom. Participants described several features that made sports betting particularly appealing, including ease of access, the ability to bet with small amounts of money, reduced interpersonal confrontation, opportunities to gamble on football, the chance to test sporting knowledge, diverse betting options, and frequent rewards and reinforcement. Experiences suggestive of problematic betting included preoccupation and extensive planning, successive betting and increased risk-taking after losses, unsuccessful attempts to quit, concealment of betting behavior, social and occupational impairment, and negative emotional experiences. Conclusion: Sports betting emerged in participants' accounts as a growing behavioral practice among young men in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, raising concerns about gambling-related harms. While often initiated as a leisure activity, participants' narratives suggested patterns that extended beyond casual engagement and shared features commonly associated with problematic gambling. Future studies should include women and employ large-scale quantitative designs to examine the population burden and distribution of sports betting-related harms and to inform appropriate prevention and intervention strategies.