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Sports gambling has a very long history, evolving with and influencing cultures, classes, genders and races from antiquity until the present. Attempts to ban it have failed, with its problems regularly emerging in new forms. Given the still limited historiography, this chapter adopts a broad-brush, qualitative, socio-historical approach. It focuses on five themes: the change over time in the various sports betting systems, such as lotteries; the changing nature of social networks in terms of sports gambling; anti-gambling attitudes and their importance in shaping legislative attempts to control or suppress it; the changing regulation of sports betting; and the way identities such as class, age and gender impacted on sports gambling.

The concept of servicescape and its effect on consumer behaviour has been studied extensively in numerous areas of retailing. However, the role of servicescape in non‐traditional service settings has received comparatively little attention. The aim of this paper is to fill in some of this research gap by testing the effects of servicescape (ambience, layout and functionality) on consumer behaviour within UK betting shops, as part of the wider UK gambling industry.

In order to achieve this objective an exploratory research methodology was chosen. Firstly, three betting shops in the same metropolitan area were chosen as the base for interviews with managers and structured observations. This was complemented by fifty semi‐structured customer interviews from the same three betting shops. The use of these different methods allowed triangulation and validation of the results.

The key finding of this paper are that customers in betting shops appear to be unaffected by some of the elements of the servicescape. However, this research has found that signs, symbols and artefacts were regarded as critically important by consumers.

Further, larger scale research is needed on the effects of servicescape in environments where consumption behaviour could be considered compulsive. This could includes, e.g. betting shops, arcades, casinos, bingo halls and National Lottery “shops.” Furthermore, this paper could also be used as the basis for further research on the e‐servicescape of the online gambling industry.

Some servicescape elements do not appear to affect betting shop customers greatly, but staff knowledge is important. Therefore, resources should be spent on improving staff knowledge rather than on other elements of the servicescape.

No prior empirical research has been found in this area.

The purpose of this paper is to provide practitioners of management and interested research a sense of how the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament is affecting worker productivity in the workplace. There are several positive and negative issues concerning how some employees are willing to spend work time following the NCAA tournament and related office gambling activities.

A review of the applied literature on sports‐related gambling and bracketing that is quite widespread in the USA and other countries was provided. The sample consisted of relatively well‐paid professionals, who may routinely engage in office pools and most universally are involved in bracketing March Madness plays. This resulted in 145 useable questionnaires recording responses to 28 variables from an initial sampling frame of slightly over 200 potential respondents associated with a major Pittsburgh‐based financial service provider. Factor analysis and multivariate statistical analysis were used to test several hypotheses.

Management appears to be successfully delivering the message that office gambling activities harm productivity if management activity discourages office gambling, but there appears to be a trade‐off as labor productivity may be slightly reduced on the short term, and employee cohesiveness may increase on the long term. It was also found that the degree of personal involvement is important; the more an employee is involved, the more negative the impact that March Madness activities will have on his/her productivity.

March Madness is a time‐honored tradition that many employees take for granted and will engage in regardless of the extrinsic controls that management may care to implement, making the extrinsic controls too expensive for a questionable return in enhanced labor productivity during March Madness.

It is an interesting academic research question concerning the balance of productivity losses and gains in employee cohesiveness that warrants additional research in the intrinsic motivations of both management and their employees.

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.

The purpose of this paper is to describe a £7.4 million training program for 8,500 employees, which helped bookmaker William Hill to introduce new electronic point of sale (EPoS) technology at its 1,630 betting offices across the UK.

Examines what gave rise to the need for the training, how it was planned and delivered, and the results it achieved.

Reveals that the company's customer‐service agents are now generally more customer‐focused. They have the skills to complete the whole life‐cycle of a bet, from accepting and processing to paying out, enhancing their working practices and adding more responsibility. Shop managers are able to spend more time maximizing the potential of their staff and are more visible to their customers. This means they have more time to sell the benefits of the new technology and inform customers how they can benefit. Managers also have more information about the efficiency and productivity of their staff and any cash discrepancies that may arise.

Shows that the increased emphasis on good teamwork and improved communication has improved the customer experience.

Details an award‐winning training program that has resulted in 8,500 employees embracing a change of culture and new set of working practices.

This paper aims to examine how hybrid business models can help companies to survive in a constantly evolving digital world. The hybridization of business models is a promising approach to innovation.

The authors discuss the key elements of a successful business model hybridization along the Business Model Canvas (Osterwalder and Pigneur, 2010). In particular, the elements of value propositions, customer segments, channels and a company’s cost structures demonstrate the individual steps toward a hybridized business model. Using Paddy Power Betfair as an example, the authors showcase how the concept of a hybrid business model can be successfully implemented in practice.

By hybridizing its business model, Betfair not only expanded existing customer value propositions but also introduced new ways of co-creating value with customers. Simultaneously, the hybridization positively affects a company’s revenue model, hence evolving in new ways of capturing value.

To effectively hybridize and thus innovate a company’s business model, the two key factors are successful value creation and value capture. By hybridizing elements of existing business models, new value for customers can be generated. Companies capturing this additional value may achieve sustainable and successful business models and thereby gain a competitive advantage.

The purpose of this paper is to explore and test certain assumptions concerning the employee productivity and employee morale associated with the annual participation in March Madness activities.

The sample consisted of relatively well‐paid professionals many of whom routinely engage in office pools and most universally are involved in bracketing March Madness plays, from a major Pittsburgh‐based financial service provider. Multivariate statistical analyses were used to test the hypotheses.

Although management may advertise that their companies lose operational productivity, respondents generally agree that there is little drop off in workplace productivity. Apparently, there is a trade off between labor productivity, which may be slightly reduced on the short term, and employee cohesiveness, which may increase on the long term.

March Madness activities are such time‐honored traditions that it may be questionable whether any efforts on the part of management to curb office pooling would be effective, due to the expense, uncertain consequences, and doubtful impacts on productivity arising from such initiatives.

Continued research to determine the balance of productivity losses and gains in employee cohesiveness and morale is needed to develop appropriate strategies to effectively deal with the complexities posed by March Madness activities in the workplace environment.

This paper seeks to overview the issues, concerns and challenges relating to gambling – and more specifically internet gambling – in the workplace.

Using psychological literature, this paper outlines a number of important and inter‐related areas including brief overviews of gambling and problem gambling, internet gambling, social impact of internet gambling, types of gambling in the workplace and associated issues, and the effects of gambling in the workplace.

The paper reveals that issues surrounding gambling and internet gambling in the workplace are a neglected but important area for employers and employees.

The empirical base for the paper was based on a small number of peer‐reviewed papers.

Using the findings of the psychological literature, guidelines for managers on the issue of gambling and internet gambling in the workplace are presented.

Research on internet gambling is sparse and there is almost nothing in the literature concerning implications of internet gambling in the workplace.

The paper aims to detail the comprehensive system of employee communications at UK bookmaker Ladbrokes, and the company's success in the Investor in People awards.

The paper considers initiatives such as “speak‐up” days, the “Ideas From You” reward scheme, directors' “back‐to‐the‐floor” experience, the staff council, and use of the shop EPOS system to survey staff about particular developments and suggested improvements.

The paper shows that these communication channels help to ensure that the workforce is adaptable and receptive to change, and have significant levels of product knowledge, technical expertise, and exceptional customer‐service skills.

The paper highlights an important area of competitive advantage for companies operating in the service sector.

The paper sites the Investors in People award in the context of good employee communication.