GAMBLING AWARENESS

CSPPA ANNOUNCE LANDMARK PARTNERSHIP WITH EPIC RISK MANAGEMENT

EPIC Risk Management, a leading independent gambling harm minimization consultancy, and CSPPA have agreed to become global Gambling Awareness Partners in a first of its kind program in esports.

As part of the partnership, EPIC Risk Management and CSPPA will be working to provide impactful and proven awareness, education, and risk management programs to the CSPPA members in a series of sessions and engagements. As global Gambling Awareness Partners both parties will launch a series of research projects focusing on gambling awareness in competitive esports.

"We are delighted to be working with EPIC on a multi-year collaboration as they are recognized as the leading organization globally for gambling awareness”

- Mads Øland, (former) CEO of CSPPA

CSPPA CEO, Mads Øland:

“The CSPPA understands that elite athletes, including CSPPA Members, are potentially more vulnerable to gambling addiction and betting integrity issues. The CSPPA is committed to protecting its members from the potential harms of gambling addiction, which not only harms the individual both financially and with regards to mental health, but also exposes and makes players vulnerable to further abuse relating to betting integrity and match fixing.

We are delighted to be working with EPIC on a multi-year collaboration as they are recognized as the leading organization globally for gambling awareness and have conducted proven programs across many mainstream sports at elite level.”

"This partnership now means, that CSPPA is engaged with EPIC to raise awareness of these issues and help its members with any gambling related problems along with the convergence between gaming and gambling.”

- Paul Buck, CEO of EPIC Risk Management

EPIC Risk Management CEO, Paul Buck:
“We’re delighted to announce such a landmark agreement. I must applaud the leadership of the CSPPA for taking a lead in esports around the threats of gambling harm, and we are very excited to launch a first of its kind agreement between an esports players’ association in this space.

At EPIC, we have a proven track-record of working with athletes to make them aware of the potentially destructive financial implications and health issues that out-of-control gambling can cause. The work we do covers harmful products and practices and enables athletes to make well-informed decisions, reducing distraction, in addition to educating them on betting integrity issues and their potential problems that out-of-control gambling can cause. The proliferation of gambling on esports and the growth of this sector shows that there is a broad demographic of people, which include esports players themselves, their fans, audiences, and commercial entities who could be at-risk to problem gambling.

In our conversations with the CSPPA, we’ve been made aware of the potential issues related to gambling addictions in professional CS:GO. This partnership now means, that CSPPA is engaged with EPIC to raise awareness of these issues and help its members with any gambling related problems along with the convergence between gaming and gambling.”