G7 Brain Economy Summit – Case Study
Bringing gambling harm prevention into conversations at the highest levels of global policy requires credible evidence, practical experience and collaboration between organisations, sectors and jurisdictions.
In June 2025, EPIC Global Solutions principal consultant Dan Spencer was invited to contribute that expertise at the G7 Canada Brain Economy Summit in Calgary, Canada, an event linked to the G7 meeting of world leaders.
Appearing as part of the Global Forum on Responsible Gaming and Gambling Policy, Dan joined an expert panel discussing ‘Advancing Whole-System Approaches to Gambling Harm in High-Risk Sectors’, providing an influential audience spanning policy, academia, healthcare and industry with practical insight into how a collaborative, prevention-led approach can reduce gambling-related harm.
Background
Effective gambling harm prevention increasingly requires organisations to look beyond individual interventions and consider how education, early detection, intervention, treatment and ongoing support can work together as part of a connected system.
It also requires knowledge to travel. Approaches that prove effective within one organisation, sector or jurisdiction can provide valuable lessons elsewhere – particularly across higher-risk environments such as sport, gaming, education and military or veteran communities.
Through more than a decade of international work, EPIC Global Solutions has developed extensive experience of how preventative education and harm-reduction approaches can be adapted for different audiences and environments. The challenge is ensuring that this practical knowledge contributes to wider conversations among the people shaping policy, research and organisational approaches to gambling-related harm.
The Global Forum on Responsible Gaming and Gambling Policy, part of the G7 Canada Brain Economy Summit in Calgary, provided an opportunity to do exactly that.
Bringing together representatives from industry, healthcare, academia and policy, the forum was designed to inform global conversations around gambling-related harm. EPIC was invited to contribute its experience to a panel specifically exploring how prevention, education, early detection and support could be integrated across higher-risk sectors.
Objectives
For EPIC, the objective was clear: to demonstrate why effective gambling harm prevention requires a consistent, collaborative and whole-system approach – and to share practical insight developed through working with organisations and individuals across different sectors and jurisdictions.
Implementation
Dan Spencer represented EPIC during the Global Forum on Responsible Gaming and Gambling Policy, bringing practical insight developed through EPIC’s international work into a cross-sector discussion involving policy, industry, healthcare and academic stakeholders.
Taking place in Calgary immediately ahead of the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Kananaskis, the forum provided a platform to discuss approaches that have demonstrated value in different jurisdictions and consider how they might be applied elsewhere.
Dan joined Dan Umfleet, CEO of Kindbridge; Rasmus Kjaergaard, CEO of Mindway AI; and Mark Hicks, managing director at the NCAA, on a panel moderated by Brianne Doura-Schawohl, principal of BDS Consulting.
EPIC’s contribution focused on the need for a whole-system approach to gambling harm, considering the complete lifecycle of someone who gambles rather than treating individual interventions in isolation.
The discussion considered the importance of education and awareness before harm occurs; recognising indicators of risk and creating opportunities for earlier intervention; ensuring appropriate treatment is accessible when required; and providing support beyond treatment to help prevent relapse.
Drawing upon EPIC’s experience across gambling, elite sport, education and other higher-risk environments, Dan also demonstrated why successful approaches should be shared across sectors and jurisdictions, rather than allowing effective practice to remain siloed.
Impact
EPIC’s contribution ensured that practical experience of gambling harm prevention formed part of a global conversation involving stakeholders with the ability to influence organisational, regulatory and policy approaches.
The diversity of the audience was particularly significant. Academics, operators, policy makers, lawmakers and other stakeholders brought different perspectives to the discussion, yet Dan’s assessment following the summit was that there was clear common ground around the need for a broader and more holistic approach to preventing gambling-related harm.
The value of EPIC’s involvement therefore extended beyond a single panel appearance. It provided an opportunity to introduce influential decision-makers to practical approaches already being applied within higher-risk sectors, encourage greater consistency and collaboration between stakeholders, and demonstrate why prevention needs to be considered throughout the entire lifecycle of gambling participation.
It also provided a platform for practical experience to complement policy, research, healthcare and commercial perspectives – helping stakeholders consider not simply what measures can be implemented, but where and when interventions can make the greatest difference.
EPIC subsequently identified Dan’s participation in the summit as an example of how its influence extends beyond programme delivery, helping to shape the wider global dialogue around gambling harm prevention, policy innovation and industry responsibility.
Feedback
“I think the message was received loud and clear that we need to take a bigger, wider, holistic approach to preventing gambling related harm.”
Dan Spencer, EPIC senior consultant.
“What I’ve already seen here at this summit is that there are some really smart people very educated people from different backgrounds that all have a piece of helping set policy from a perspective of protecting young people. Encouraging and watching that collaboration continue is really going to be key to advance whatever policies come out of this weekend’s activities.”
Mark Hicks, NCAA Managing Director
“We had good representation here. We saw regulators, we saw ROGA, which represented some of the operators. We saw health care backgrounds. We saw some policymakers. I think widening this out to a broader lens and bringing in some additional stakeholders from other industry backgrounds that can give us some parallel guidance is going to do the trick.”
Daniel Umfleet, Kindbridge CEO
Conclusion
EPIC Global Solutions’ involvement in the G7 Canada Brain Economy Summit demonstrated the value that specialist gambling harm consultancy and thought leadership can bring to influential cross-sector conversations.
Rather than viewing education, detection, intervention and treatment as separate solutions, the discussion encouraged stakeholders to consider how these elements can form part of a connected system – and how lessons learned within one sector or jurisdiction can inform progress elsewhere.
For EPIC, the opportunity to contribute to a G7-linked forum represented an important step in ensuring that practical experience of gambling harm prevention reaches the people capable of influencing organisational strategy, regulation and public policy.
By combining international experience, evidence and lessons learned from working across higher-risk sectors, EPIC can help organisations move beyond simply recognising gambling-related risk and towards understanding the practical interventions that can prevent and reduce harm.
Further Information
EPIC Global Solutions provides consultancy and strategic advisory services to organisations seeking to better understand, prevent and mitigate gambling-related harm.
Our expertise combines lived experience with evidence-led insight and experience of working internationally across gambling, professional and collegiate sport, education and other higher-risk environments.
Through consultancy, research, training and education, we help organisations identify risk, understand where effective interventions can be made and develop approaches that protect people, performance, reputation and operations.
