The ground-breaking Symposium will be held at Manhattan’s 40/40 Club on November 30 2021 and will bring together 100 C-level stakeholders from politics, the media, and the sports and gambling industries to discuss and present strategies to prevent gambling harm and discuss a unified approach to the issue. 

Participants at the event include keynote speaker Craig Carton, the American radio personality and co-host of the Carton and Roberts sports radio program on WFAN, and former Michigan Legislator Brandt Iden, now head of government affairs, US for Sportradar. There will also be panels featuring the Major Leagues and industry CEOs. 

The invitation-only event, to be held the day before SBC Summit North America 2021, will focus on a solution-based approach to gambling harm minimization, informed by the experience of problems in Europe’s long-established sports betting markets, and the training required to develop a sustainable industry in the US.

The need for a robust industry-wide approach to the prevention of gambling related harm has been emphasized recently as, according to the American Gaming Association, the US generated $1.5bn in revenue from sports wagering in 2020. The country also saw 17.8m people place online bets on March Madness 2021. Among them will have been sports fans placing their first-ever bet and many more having their first experience of the ease of online gambling.

Operators, regulators, affiliates, suppliers, sports leagues, and teams have the opportunity to work together and take collective responsibility for the protection of those sports fans as the legal US sports betting industry continues to grow. The Player Protection Symposium is specifically designed to help educate the leaders of those organisations about the most effective ways to do that. 

Brianne Doura-Schawohl, vice president of US policy and strategic development at EPIC Risk Management, commented: “The importance of having a good player protection strategy cannot be underestimated at this stage of development for the industry. Hosted alongside SBC Summit North America, the Player Protection Symposium provides a perfect opportunity for executives to get up to speed with the latest methods of tackling problem gambling.”

Paul Buck, CEO of EPIC Risk Management, added: “The US industry has the chance to avoid many of the problem gambling issues seen in Europe by developing a harm prevention ecosystem at the same time as legal sports betting becomes established as part of American sports culture. During the Symposium, we’ll share our experiences of helping organisations reduce the risks posed by gambling harm and detail our approach, which is built on the foundation of four pillars: lived experience, research, prevention, and policy.” 

Rasmus Sojmark, founder and CEO of SBC, explained: “We’re delighted to be working with EPIC Risk Management, the leading independent gambling harm-minimisation consultancy, on the Player Protection Symposium. The wellbeing of bettors is a high priority for stakeholders across the industry and this event is a rare opportunity for them to learn best practices and share ideas about how to create a safe environment for their customers.” 

To register interest in attending the EPIC Risk Management Player Protection Symposium, please email events@epicriskmanagement.com.