Time: 13:30-15:00, Thursday, November 12, 2026

Venue: Guoshun Campus, Room 624, Siyuan Building

Speaker: Zhen Zhu, Professor of Marketing, Suffolk University

Moderator: Prof. Rongwei Chu

Topic: The Influence of Sports Betting Advertising on College Students

Abstract: This presentation examines how sports betting advertising influences the awareness, attitudes, and behaviors of college students in Massachusetts, a state with legal sports wagering since 2022. Using a Community Research Team (CRT) approach, we trained 25–30 college students from diverse institutions to conduct peer interviews, observations, and data analysis. This community-based research provides rich, firsthand insights into students’ exposure to, and engagement with, sports betting advertising across their consumer journeys. We share key findings on advertising tactics, youth vulnerability, and regulatory loopholes, and discuss how our results inform practical recommendations for prevention and harm-reduction programs. The study has directly contributed to policy discussions with the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, demonstrating the value of youth-led, community-engaged research in shaping more equitable and protective gambling policies.

Bio: Dr. Zhen Zhu is Professor of Marketing at Suffolk University. Her recent research work lies in the field of gambling marketing, sustainable innovations, and digital marketing in international contexts. She has published in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, the Journal of Retailing, the Journal of Product Innovation Management, the Journal of Macromarketing, Technovation, Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, and Decision Sciences, among others. She has won research grants and awards from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, the Wharton Customer Analytics Institute, and the Journal of Advertising Research, as well as high citation awards for her published works. She is an alumna of Fudan University.