How we’ll be pushing for collaboration on gambling harm prevention on a global scale at G7
As EPIC prepare to share a key message of collaboration and consistency around gambling harm prevention at a G7 Leaders’ Summit support event on Friday, our event panelist, Dan Spencer, has shared his thoughts via LinkedIn.
For the benefit of those who aren’t connected to our principal consultant on the platform, here’s what he had to say about this significant event…
EPIC Global Solutions – who I’ll be representing at the G7 Canada Brain Economy Summit in Calgary on Friday – exist to make gambling safer and more sustainable for everyone. We work in partnership with gambling operators, elite sports, education and other at-risk sectors to reduce harm associated with gaming and gambling.
EPIC is the globally-leading trusted partner for gambling harm prevention. Our proven approach is grounded in personal experiences, providing real-world, relatable solutions for making gambling safer and more sustainable.
The opportunity for problem gambling to be discussed on a global stage as part of the G7 Canada Brain Economy Summit is a fantastic platform to discuss a consistent and collaborative approach on education and harm prevention that can be applied around the world.
Taking place as a curtain raiser to the G7 Leaders’ Summit Kananaskis, this event and the Global Forum on Responsible Gaming and Gambling Policy strand within which we’ll be discussing the matter are an opportunity to ensure that delegates can become better informed about what’s working in other jurisdictions and how they can apply it with similar success where they’re based. This is a unique chance to hold a global conversation on the prevention of gambling harms.
I’m pleased to have been invited to participate on the topic of ‘Advancing Whole-System Approaches to Gambling Harm in High-Risk Sectors’.
We have a number of successful examples of where we’ve made a significant contribution across high-risk populations and it’s somewhere where the sporting industry is leading the way for every other sector. Just this week, we’re releasing some extremely positive findings from the first year of our work alongside William Hill and the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), where the operator has helped to provide the funding, we’ve provided the lived experience-based education and the league’s clubs, players and staff have been the beneficiaries of the message.
Post-session evaluations have shown that our message generates a big jump in awareness around where to turn for support with problem gambling. This is a fantastic outcome of an arrangement that stemmed from William Hill taking the title sponsorship of the SPFL resulting in positive educational outcomes for those across the entire league.
We’re privileged to be sharing the same platform in Calgary as Mark Hicks of the NCAA, and he will attest that nobody else globally is providing an education programme on the scale of what we’re doing to promote awareness of the issue among collegiate athletes in the USA– a project in its fourth year that has also been given the financial support of gambling operators in its formative years.
Likewise, Kindbridge are represented on the panel by their CEO, Dan Umfleet, and we can speak to the power of collaboration that our respective organisations alongside the Responsible Gambling Council (RGC) have brought to the Know Your Play concept (www.knowyourplay.org) that we’ve launched in partnership with the Responsible Online Gaming Association (ROGA). Our experience-driven education and Kindbridge’s expertise in mental health resilience means that the Know Your Play online platform is available to every college student in the US to enhance their knowledge of responsible gaming, money management and positive mental health – something that would be so much harder for any one organisation to bring to life on their own.
These arrangements also generate great data on the potential for harm and insight into gaming habits among the sector or audience that they serve, which is a huge learning point. These statistics help policy makers to react to the signs of harm and plan on to negate it.
This also means that we get to reach at-risk groups as early as possible. We can educate as to what harm looks like and signpost where to turn if the audience recognises the signs of harm in their own behaviour. As an organisation focused on prevention, it’s our aspiration that we can reduce the burden on treatment providers by ensuring that fewer people get to the stage where their services are in demand, or reduce the level of support that is needed for those who seek help before it’s too late.
So how do we scale this innovation on an impactful global scale? There is no simple, silver bullet solution that will magically make harm disappear – addiction will always exist alongside any pleasurable activity or substance, but you can equip generations to be more prepared to mitigate risk and recognise signs early and there are many different mechanisms that combine to prevent harm if you commit to it. Encourage extensive education. Push to unlock funding to provide it on a large scale. Identify the highest-risk sectors where harm is occurring (or could occur) in your territory and prioritise the support offered to the people within them.
Governments can also keep everyone under their jurisdiction alert to positive action and proactive self-improvement by committing to regular reviews of gambling legislation to ensure that it is fit for purpose. However, it’s my belief that the most valuable data and the brightest minds to act upon it exist within the gambling sector itself. Of course, there are always bad actors, but in my experience, there is a strong desire within the large-scale gambling operators to mitigate harm and they understand that addiction is bad for business long term. We must stop vilifying an entire industry that in some instances is doing more to prevent harm associated with gambling than local governments. Large-scale collaboration to tackle this problem globally must include the legal regulated gambling industry as a key component.
I’m proud to have worked in this area during an extremely progressive time in gambling harm prevention and have been part of the most innovative approaches in prevention. I’m confident that this week’s event will yield crucial insight into global best practice and I’m honoured to have been invited to take part.
