Congratulations on the successful PhD defense of Niels Bibert (KU Leuven)

On June 4, Niels Bibert successfully defended his dissertation at the KU Leuven entitled “An Odd Game? Understanding Esports Betting Access, Drivers and Consumption”.

His doctoral project deals with the rapidly growing field of betting on eSports offers. To this end, he carried out four studies dealing with 1) the legal basis and access to betting on eSports, 2 and 3) the use of betting offers by users, their conditions and needs and 4) the complete usage data on eSports betting in Belgium. A unique feature of the project is the work with a comprehensive data set that all betting providers in Belgium had to provide upon request via the Belgian Betting Commission. The empirical case study of the work is in Belgium, but the results are also of great interest internationally and especially for Germany, where 1) the market for betting on eSports is one of the growth drivers and 2) the effects of the regulations of the latest state treaty on the re-regulation of gambling in Germany (State Treaty on Gambling 2021 – GlüStV 2021) are being intensively discussed.

Niels Bibert’s theoretical foundation for his work includes the approach of mediatization and communicative figuration. He was also advised by ZeMKI member Prof. Dr. Andreas Hepp. ZeMKI member Dr. Philip Sinner acted as reviewer of the thesis and member of the examination committee at the KU Leuven. Niels Bibert is also closely associated with the ZeMKI and was represented with panel presentations at the DGPuK Annual Conference 2023 and the Beyond Play 2024 conference, among others.

Members of the Examination Commission:
Prof. Dr. Leen d’Haenens (Chairwoman)
Prof. Dr. Bieke Zaman (supervisor)
Prof. Dr. Rozane De Cock (second supervisor)
Prof. Dr. Stef Aupers [KU Leuven, Reviewer and examiner]
Prof. Dr. Bram Constandt [UGent, Reviewer and examiner]
Prof. Dr. Mariek Vanden Abeele [UGhent, Reviewer and examiner]
Dr. Philip Sinner [UBremen ZeMKI, Reviewer and examiner]

Niels Bibert is now researching mediatization issues at Hasselt University and also works in science communication.

The KU Leuven and the University of Hasselt are Erasmus partner universities of the ZeMKI and offer exchange programs for students and teachers.