A dual account of how excitement impacts risk-taking: Evidence from the National Hockey League’s 50-50 raffle

The current research seeks to explain the motivation to participate in risk-taking activities as a function of game-related dynamics. We examine the role of excitement in predicting purchase behaviour toward a 50–50 raffle, a prevalent social responsibility activity among sport organizations where half the amount raised is offered to charity while the other half is allocated to a randomly drawn participant. We combine a proprietary dataset of 50–50 transactions for a National Hockey League team with publicly-available information and box scores across two seasons of home games. A dual account reveals that excitement increases risk-taking towards 50–50 purchase amount (1) during non-gameplay (i.e., the pregame and intermission) due to excitement-as-anticipation, and (2) during gameplay due to excitement-as-experience. We discuss the findings’ practical implications for sport organizations’ socially responsible activities and suggest directions for future research.