Students with Visual Impairments and Sports Betting:The Role of the Media

With many groups at-risk of gambling, some scholars have recommended research into people with hearing loss and others with similar disabilities. Yet, people with visual impairments (VIs) and their sports betting activities have eluded scholarship. Drawing on interdisciplinary studies and interviews with six student–teachers with VIs contributed to analyzing their engagement in betting activities, using mass media and discussions on sports, particularly football. Despite media being a possible influencer on their betting research, the students mostly depend on pundits’ discussions of sporting events from different media outlets, which inform their final choices to stake their sports bet. Findings show that beyond their usual financial attraction, those visually impaired fancy the “bragging rights” of satisfying their supremacy over the sighted people into sporting betting on campus. Results indicate they strongly rely on sports pundits’ discussions alongside the specialized app on their mobile phones to make informed decisions on their bets. The study is fascinating as it explains the strategies of the students by constantly relying on multiple media information to facilitate their sports betting activities as they mostly win more than the sighted.