July 30, 2025 | by Stephen Leithwood
As sports betting gains momentum across North America, Brock University’s Michael Naraine has joined a group of international experts leading the academic response to the rapidly evolving industry.
The Associate Professor in Sport Management is the first Canadian member of the newly formed Institute on Sports Wagering and Gaming (ISWAG) at San Diego State University.
ISWAG serves as a hub for research, policy development and responsible gaming practices in the sports betting sector, an area Naraine says demands urgent academic attention.
“There’s research on gambling in general, but almost nothing in Canada that focuses exclusively on sports gambling. That’s a big gap, especially considering Ontario is one of the top five jurisdictions for sports betting in North America, alongside places like New York and Nevada,” he says.
The industry has exploded since the United States Supreme Court struck down federal prohibitions on sports betting in 2018, with Canadians joining in after Ontario opened its market in 2022.
Now, everything from pitch-by-pitch bets in baseball to real-time player performance wagers in hockey are available at users’ fingertips. This shift has created an urgent need for education, regulation and research.
Brock University Sport Management Associate Professor Michael Naraine is helping shape the academic response to the booming sports betting industry as Canada’s first member of the Institute on Sports Wagering and Gaming.
“We’re not just talking about betting who wins or loses anymore,” Naraine says. “We’re talking about micro-bets. Predicting the next pitch or whether a player gets a double-double. These are new forms of engagement that didn’t exist in our region even a decade ago.”
Naraine points out that while gambling research has existed for years, often focusing on addiction and harm reduction, sports gambling is a different beast
“It combines the economics of betting with the psychology of fandom, and as we know, sports fans are among the most emotionally driven consumers out there,” he says.
The growth of the sports betting industry also has major implications for education and employment. Naraine says gambling and data analytics are now the two fastest-growing sectors for Sport Management students seeking internships and jobs.
“Students entering the sports industry can’t afford to be in the dark about this,” he says. “Understanding how sportsbooks operate, the marketing strategies they use and the ethical considerations involved is crucial.”
He plans to propose a dedicated course on sports gambling at Brock in the near future.
The course would explore not only betting mechanics, but also industry regulation, athlete behavior, marketing ethics and sport integrity issues.
Recent scandals involving athletes and betting violations, from the National Basketball Association’s Jontay Porter to Shohei Ohtani’s Major League Baseball interpreter, have underscored just how deeply sports gambling is affecting the integrity of professional leagues.
“We need to get ahead of this,” he says. “Otherwise, we’re going to be reacting to problems instead of preventing them.”
That includes investing in Canadian-led research and establishing policy partnerships that can examine how gambling affects racialized and Indigenous communities, youth behavior and public health outcomes.
“The current funding models don’t support that,” says Naraine. “We’re taxing these bets, but where is that money going? It should be flowing back into education and research to make sure this industry evolves responsibly.”
Through ISWAG, Naraine will collaborate with global scholars and policymakers to shape the future of sport wagering and ensure Canada is at the table.
“I’m honoured to represent Brock on this platform,” he says. “We have the expertise, the student talent and the will to lead in this space. Now we need to make sure the resources follow.”
As Ontario, and other provinces, continue to expand their gambling markets, Naraine believes universities must be part of the conversation, not just as critics, but as solution-builders.
“We can’t ignore it,” he says. “We need to study it and we need to teach it.”
Source: The Brock News