Online sports betting in universities: Does online sports betting addictions impact the academic achievements and social relations of students?

The debate on the effects of online sports betting addictions on the academic achievements and social relations of many students in higher educational institutions has dominated most public discourse in recent years in Ghana. Ghana and many other African countries have declared online sports betting addictions among students as a national security emergency. Therefore, the researchers grounded this study on gaming theory, to explore the relationship between online sports betting addictions, academic achievements, and social relations among university students (n=245 & aged 18-25). The study adopted stratified random sampling to select 245 level 100 and 200 students, while five universities were purposively sampled. The universities include Ghana Telecommunication University, University of Professional Studies, Accra, University of Ghana, Ghana Communication University, and Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration. Regression analysis and structural modeling were adopted to test three hypotheses and validate the study model. The testing of H1 and H2 established a significant negative relationship between online sports betting addictions, academic achievement, and the social relationships of students. H3, however, reported some differences between male and female students’ online sports betting addictions and their social relations, as well as academic achievements. Based on the findings, this study concludes that online sports betting addictions among university students have negative academic and social relationship implications.