EPIC Risk Management Prioritizes A Safe, Sustainable US Gambling Industry

Learn about EPIC Risk Management, a UK-based company focused on raising awareness of the social harms caused by gambling.

Even before COVID-19, the frenetic pace of US sports betting legislation rarely paid anything more than lip service to responsible gaming and problem gambling policy issues. States and locales instead focused on which stakeholders were worthy of licensure and what tax rate and licensing fee they could collect.

Don’t expect that situation to improve as more states explore expanded gambling to help fill budget holes caused by the COVID-19 economic shutdowns. That’s a shame, as problem gambling and responsible gaming should be front and center in the debate.

Fortunately, groups like the National Council on Problem Gambling and EPIC Risk Management exist. These entities are a beacon that can help lawmakers navigate the critical and complex responsible gaming and problem gambling issues.

With legal sports betting expanding in the US, EPIC Risk Management, the recipient of the 2020 NCPG Jim Wuelfing Annual Award for Prevention, is bringing its awareness campaigns, education, training, and risk management programs across the Atlantic to minimize gambling-related harms.

Betting USA recently spoke with Mark Potter, Head of Safer Gambling US, at EPIC Risk Management, to better understand the company and how it’s working to impact the legal gambling industry in the US positively.

The Creation of EPIC Risk Management

Betting USA: Could you give our readers a brief look at your history and the role EPIC Risk Management plays in existing markets?

Mark Potter: EPIC Risk Management was created in the UK by Founder and CEO Paul Buck in 2013, following his own ten-year-long battle with gambling disorder with the aim of saving lives by raising awareness of gambling-related harm and its associated risks.

In the subsequent seven years, EPIC has grown from a small team of three, solely working on small projects across the UK, to an award-winning business, employing 22 staff, working across 16 countries, and recognized as the world’s leading harm minimization consultancy.

We believe the key to this is our authenticity. And by combining the compelling accounts of our teams’ lived experience of gambling-related harm, along with expert subject matter knowledge, we provide impactful and proven awareness, education, training, advisory, and risk management programs to suit the needs of our clients.

We work across what are statistically the highest risk populations for gambling harm. That includes professional sports, the gambling industry, education, financial services, the military, and criminal justice. EPIC tailors our programs to suit the needs of the client and help protect their organization from the human, financial, brand, and reputational risks that problem gambling can create.  

The Role EPIC Risk Management Plays

Betting USA: What are the benefits of your product to the consumer, the industry, and the jurisdiction?

Mark Potter:  In terms of the benefits to our consumers and the industry, we provide tailored packages to suit their individual needs, usually dependent on the organizational requirements.

For example, within elite professional sports, we provide executive advisory and consultancy to teams and leagues. We also offer impactful awareness and education programs to organizations, teams and governing bodies to make athletes aware of the potentially destructive implications that disordered gambling can cause, both financially, to their health and careers.

The nature of our programs allows athletes to make well-informed decisions, reduce distraction, and maximize performance, as well as spotting signs in themselves and their teammates.

Our industry partnerships allow us to collaborate directly with operators to provide end-to-end training and consultancy packages that benefit both the industry itself and the consumer.

EPIC’s training and coaching design and delivery to key stakeholders and customer-facing teams, empowers operators to identify the early signs of harm better and interact effectively with potentially vulnerable customers at key trigger points throughout their gambling journeys. At the same time, our consultancy work helps operators to improve processes, improve compliance, and therefore mitigate the threat of regulatory sanctions.

To put it simply, we help create a safe and sustainable industry that benefits all, including regulators, operators, and the customers themselves, by ensuring both compliance and customer protection are at the forefront of the thoughts and actions of all. We believe the quality of our work speaks for itself, and testimonials from our high-profile customers across the world can be viewed on our website.

Replicating European Successes in the US

Betting USA: Do you see yourselves having a similar presence and filling a similar role in the burgeoning US industry, or will the dynamics of the US, which is, in reality, dozens of independent and varied markets, necessitate a different approach?

Mark Potter:  It is absolutely our intention to replicate the successes of our programs across the UK, wider Europe, and within the US. With the burgeoning gambling industry, an ever-increasing number of states looking to legalize sports wagering, and the potential state cuts to responsible gambling funding, now more than ever, it is vital to help create the culture and environment for a safe and sustainable industry.

In terms of getting a foothold in the US, we are in the fortunate position that in collaboration with the GVC Foundation US, EPIC has a two-year, fully-funded program in which to deliver our award-winning education and awareness sessions within elite professional sports and NCAA Division 1 College.

We are also absolutely delighted to have agreed to two huge partnerships in recent weeks that will both allow us to deliver excellence, but also work with some of the biggest and best organizations in the US.

Firstly, we have agreed to partner with the Harvard Medical School Division of Addiction, who will carry out the first of its kind research piece, from the data that we collect from elite and up and coming athletes as part of our program.   

Secondly and most recently, the NFL Players Association has agreed to partner with us to deliver both face-to-face and digital education sessions on gambling awareness and sports betting integrity to its past and present players across the next 18 months.

Our priority over the next 18 months is to deliver excellence within this program and by doing so, highlight the importance and value that needs to be placed around gambling education and highlighting the risks of harm across the US. We will, however, be looking to grow over the next 12 months in the US, and we are already in conversations with a number of operators and several sports leagues and organizations around training and consultancy partnerships, as well as receiving interest from several new industries.

We recognize that the variety in markets and the individual state-by-state legislation will bring about some challenges, as opposed to the UK, where everything is essentially under one roof. However, we believe this also brings opportunity and one in which we can help form the necessary culture and outlook for responsible gambling measures across a number of different jurisdictions.

Working with US Lawmakers and Regulators

Betting USA: One of the interesting aspects of the US is the ability to not just get in on the ground floor, but to have a say in policy decisions as legislation and regulations are crafted. The ramifications of this are playing out in Europe, where governments and regulators are mandating changes. Is this something EPIC is involved with?

Mark Potter:  Historically, as the first company in the UK that based our work around lived experience of gambling harm, we have advised and supported legislators and regulators on responsible gambling measures for some time. As you say, there are now a growing number of requirements placed on industry operators by regulators, and that is where our main involvement lies. Our training, coaching, and consultancy work helps operators comply with these regulations and ensure compliance.

We have also just become the first non-charity to be placed on the RET Register with the UK Gambling Commission (RET – Research, Education, and Treatment), which is a significant step for our company. Our addition to this register, alongside organizations such as GambleAware and Gamcare,  allows us to access funds from the annual contributions that operators make to create and deliver fit for purpose and high impact harm minimization projects to ensure the prevention of harm from gambling.

In terms of the US, we feel that our experience, position, and involvement within the UK market and having seen both the successes and mistakes by both regulators and operators, puts us in a strong position to help craft fit-for-purpose legislation and regulation.

By ensuring all stakeholders place responsible gambling and customer protection at the top of their agendas and from the outset, the US market can become the safest and sustainable worldwide. That will not only prevent the devastating effects of gambling harm but also prevent the inevitable regulatory sanctions that will be imposed down the line through non-compliance.

Working with Operators and Stakeholders

Betting USA: Likewise, has EPIC had conversations with stakeholders regarding best practices?

Mark Potter: Within all of EPIC’s consultancy programs, board-level advisory is one of the key aspects of our work. Conversations around best practices and how to continue to make improvements in working processes play a large part in creating the conditions for success for our clients.

As part of our key principles and strategy, we will only work with organizations that share our values around safer and more sustainable gambling going forward, and this will be the case within the US also.

We do not tick boxes, we pride ourselves on making a difference. This applies to our work not only within the industry but in professional sport, education, and also within our two-year program with the GVC Foundation US, whom we are absolutely delighted to be collaborating with and who absolutely share our values and principles.

Pitfalls the US Would Be Wise to Avoid

Betting USA: What are some of the potential stumbling blocks lawmakers should prioritize as they craft policies around responsible gaming?

Mark Potter:  We believe that when crafting policies around responsible gambling, for it to be successful, there needs to be input from all stakeholders. That includes regulators, operators, state government officials, treatment providers, researchers, and those with lived experience of harm.

The danger of creating laws without the input of all the stakeholders named above is that they carry a bias toward one demographic. An agreed set of priorities and principles needs to be set and then, more importantly, adhered to by all from the outset.

We have recently seen in the UK, a number of lobby groups and individuals appear and challenge laws and regulations as not fit for purpose (rightly so in some cases). This can be avoided in the US, if the agreed laws and legislation are set with fairness to all in mind and with customer protection as a priority.

One thing I think is vital within the US is mandatory state funding for research, education, and treatment. Gambling is the fastest growing addiction across the world, it has the highest relapse rate of any addiction, and the devastating effects it creates can be catastrophic.

For a country that is going through an unprecedented period of growth within the gambling industry, with the legalization of sports wagering and online gaming on the increase, there must be education available around the associated risks of gambling harm, treatment available to those already suffering and research studies carried out into trends within society.

As a company, we can help shape and mold a safe and sustainable industry by collaborating with all stakeholders to mitigate the associated risks of harm. 40% of our team has been there, lived it, made successful recoveries, and are passionate to help others, and that authenticity is what sets us apart.

This Is Only the Beginning For Epic Risk Management

Betting USA: It’s been nice chatting with you and learning about your company. Are there any final thoughts you would like to leave our readers with?

Mark Potter: To finish, it has been great to share some of our work and future plans with you. As we set out on our journey in the US, we would love to continue to share more of our work and successes with you.

As an advocate of the NCPG and someone that promotes and advocates responsible gambling, it was great to see you speak so highly of the recent digital conference in your recent piece. We were therefore delighted on Friday last week to be recognized at the NCPG Awards, in which we won the Jim Wuelfing Award for Prevention for 2020. We hope it’s the first of many within the US.

You can reach EPIC Risk Management’s Mark Potter at Mark@epicriskmanagement.com