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Despite increasingly persuasive women-focused marketing of gambling products, there has only been limited investigation around women sports betting. Men remain the focus of much of the conversation about sports betting as they have generally been found to be the most active sports bettors and the most at risk of experiencing harms associated with their behaviour. This chapter aims to fill this gap by exploring the characteristics of young women sports bettors in the United Kingdom and the relationship between sports betting and the experience of gambling harms. To do this, we created two models of analysis. Our analysis is based on data from the first wave (2019) of the Emerging Adults Gambling Survey (EAGS) dataset (n = 3,549). The EAGS is a non-probability longitudinal survey that includes individuals between the ages of 16 and 24 who were residents in Britain at the time of data collection. Firstly, we examined the associations between women sports bettors and several factors identified as important predictors of sports betting. Secondly, we sought to understand the relationship between women's sports betting and the harms associated with this activity. From these models, we found that women's sports betting was most reliably predicted according to fandom and peer influence. We also found that women sports bettors were more at risk of experiencing harms associated with difficulties with family and friends than women gamblers using other products.

This chapter provides a study of how gambling companies use the cultural and social capital of Newcastle United Football Club, in the English Premier League, to establish a connection with the club's fans to promote gambling. Newcastle United had two gambling sponsors during the period of this study, from 2017 to 2020, including a front of shirt sponsor, FUN88, an online gambling brand with a large following in Asia. Data were gathered from a range of sources, including from the social media platform, Twitter, to identify the methods the company used to engage fans and to encourage betting on the outcome of matches. The data from the study were explored thematically to describe the relationship developed between the football club and its principal gambling sponsor in order to drive business for the latter with the club's followers. The findings showed how FUN88 evoked Newcastle United's cultural tradition to promote gambling and generate business globally whilst the club actively promoted their ‘primary partner’ through its media channels. The lure of free match tickets was used to encourage fan engagement. Corporate practices promote the consumption of unhealthy commodities through their marketing whilst consumers (fans) are responsibilised for any harms engendered by their gambling practices. The ubiquity of gambling brands has enabled gambling to become a normalised part of football culture. The findings from this study show how FUN88 has used all elements of the sponsorship assemblage to create an emotional connection whilst engaging with Newcastle United's fans to increase consumption of its products.

The paper extends the discussion on the merit of using a net promoter score (NPS) to enhance the service design of organisations and to facilitate quality monitoring and improvement. NPS is a basic measure to assess the likelihood of a customer recommending an organisation to somebody else. This paper aims to show that this metric can be effective in monitoring and improving the quality of workplace training.

Investigating the merit of using NPS to improve organisational training involved a longitudinal study of training provided by IBM. Data is analysed using panel regression and partial correlation methods. Workplace training delivery is the unit of analysis in which an NPS and conventional customer satisfaction score evaluations were conducted at the end of the delivery. The efficacy of these measures to improve quality are compared and insights derived from analysing NPS are investigated.

The findings indicate that, although NPS is not necessarily related to the results or success of a business, from a corporate perspective it can provide a solid basis from which to make business decisions that benefit a company. The authors found that NPS was associated with improved satisfaction with training, although significant regional variations were observed. Building on the data, a service business model is proposed advocating NPS as a tool for continuous improvement.

The contribution to practice includes a clearer understanding of NPS as a quality and service improvement indicator and also as a driver for a service business design. In addition, it is indicated that enterprises operating in multiple regions should consider regional variations in NPS.

By analysis of IBM’s training data, the authors gain an understanding of an industry in which quality and the use of NPS has not been extensively studied. The data also offers a rich dimension in the examination of the factors that should be considered to effectively implement an NPS service improvement plan.

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in public health measures which unintentionally made unfortunate individual-, community- and system-level impacts. People experiencing gambling harm have distinctive vulnerabilities that are exacerbated during this period of uncertainty, physical distancing, self-isolation and changes to treatment services. This paper aims to investigate narratives of gambling harm to understand unmet needs in a COVID-19 context.

A leading international gambling support forum was mined for all posts associated with COVID-19 during 2020 and thematically analyzed.

A series of themes and subthemes that gamblers responded to the pandemic with a series of adaptive and maladaptive behaviors in line with the integrative theoretical framework of maladaptive consumption. Additionally, people experiencing gambling harm are disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the standard public health notices do not meet their unique needs.

This research builds upon knowledge of the antecedents and consequences of maladaptive consumption behavior. Further, the findings show that the lack of preventative measures, such as targeted and timely information to combat adverse outcomes, and reflexive support services has made this time more challenging.