Title: Investigating the American Sports Gambling Boom by State

PI: Dr. Fatma Gunay

Institution: Economics Department, University of Florida

Duration: August 2024 - April 2025

Focus: The focus of the project is on understanding how policy decisions and other demographic characteristics of a given state impact the sports betting market activity level of that state. Because the activity is subject to an excise tax (among other taxes), the market can provide significant government revenue for other state-level programs. However, legislators may still wish to reduce market activity for other ethical or moral reasons. Consequently, it is of interest to legislators, whether pro- or anti-sports betting to understand the factors that stimulate their state's market.

Responsibilities: My responsbilities include data collection, data analysis using statistical software, and producing figures and written commentary that explain the phenomena described above.