Han Wenjia, Saunak Vaidyanathan Viswanathan
Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Doermer School of Business, Purdue University Fort Wayne, Fort Wayne, IN, 46805, USA.
Department of Management and Marketing, Doermer School of Business, Purdue University Fort Wayne, Fort Wayne, IN, 46805, USA.
J Gambl Stud. 2025 Jun 17. doi: 10.1007/s10899-025-10399-7.
Since the federal ban on sports betting was lifted in 2018, the industry has grown rapidly in the United States, raising concerns about the risk of problem gambling. Building on existing research that suggests the limited effectiveness of traditional responsible gambling campaigns, the current study examines whether the use of celebrity endorsers in advertising can enhance responsible gambling intentions. Using a scenario-based experiment with 383 U.S. sports bettors, regression analyses reveal that an endorser whose image aligns with the target audience increases consumer awareness of responsible gambling messages, thereby enhancing intentions to gamble responsibly. In addition, an image-congruent endorser boosts consumers' betting intentions and word-of-mouth advocacy for the sportsbook. Although image congruence in advertising is often operationalized through racial similarity, the findings suggest that same-race endorsers are effective in enhancing image congruence only when sports betting is perceived as socially acceptable. This study is the first to examine the effect of endorser-consumer image congruence on consumer intentions toward both sports betting brands and responsible gambling. The findings provide important insights to sportsbooks aiming to balance branding and social responsibility in marketing campaigns.
自2018年联邦对体育博彩的禁令解除以来，该行业在美国迅速发展，引发了对问题赌博风险的担忧。基于现有研究表明传统的负责任赌博活动效果有限，本研究考察了在广告中使用名人代言人是否能增强负责任赌博的意愿。通过对383名美国体育投注者进行基于情景的实验，回归分析表明，形象与目标受众相符的代言人会提高消费者对负责任赌博信息的认知，从而增强其负责任赌博的意愿。此外，形象相符的代言人会提高消费者的投注意愿，并促进对体育博彩公司的口碑宣传。虽然广告中的形象相符通常通过种族相似性来实现，但研究结果表明，只有当体育博彩被视为社会可接受时，同种族代言人在增强形象相符方面才有效。本研究首次考察了代言人 - 消费者形象相符对消费者对体育博彩品牌和负责任赌博的意图的影响。研究结果为旨在在营销活动中平衡品牌塑造和社会责任的体育博彩公司提供了重要见解。
