UK Gambling Commission

John Baillie and Catharine Seddon have been reappointed by Oliver Dowden, secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport, as commissioners of the Gambling Commission for one year from April 11, 2021 to April 10, 2022.

Baillie is a chartered accountant and a former partner of KPMG in Scotland and London. He is immediate past chair of the Accounts Commission for Scotland, the Scottish local authority watchdog and served two three-year terms.

Seddon spent 20 years as a film-maker before taking up public non-executive roles. She now sits on the Legal Services Board, where she chairs its audit and risk assurance committee and has recently joined the board of the HFEA. She is a founding member of the Health Service Products Appeal tribunal and is also a trustee for special needs charity, CPotential.

Soft2Bet

Casino and sportsbook platform provider Soft2Bet has appointed Hamza Afifi, the former head of sales for the SiGMA Group, as its PR director.

Afifi will play a key role in the promotion of the firm’s over 30 strong portfolio of operator brands, including recent launches such as the gamified sportsbook Betinia and the cabaret-inspired casino Winota.

Boris Chaikin Soft2Bet CEO, said: “A warm welcome to Hamza Afifi, who we are thrilled to name as our new PR director. Having enjoyed tremendous success at a range of highly regarded companies in our industry and beyond, Hamza will apply his impressive skills and experience to the promotion of our award-winning offering, and we are delighted to have him on board.”

Epic Risk Management

Michael Huber has joined Epic Risk Management as an advisory on US operations, enhancing the company’s responsible gambling activities in the country.

The new advisor’s primary responsibilities will see him discuss his lifelong struggle with problem gambling, beginning in his adolescence and ending in 2012, bolstering the company’s ‘lived experience’ knowledge base.

Since overcoming his gambling addiction, Huber has gone on to establish a mental performance coaching and mentoring business. He will join the team overseeing Epic’s burgeoning US operations during Problem Gambling Awareness Month.

“Michael is a very impressive and inspirational mentor and coach,” explained John Millington, vice president of US operations at Epic Risk Management.

“Epic Risk Management is a company that is built on the lived experience of gambling addiction and this underpins everything that we do in the space of harm prevention.

“Our educational programmes and training content use real-life, hard-hitting stories of gambling-harm to educate and raise awareness of the significant risk that problem-gambling creates.

“Michael will leverage his authenticity and own experience of gambling-addiction during his collegiate years and connect it with his subsequent work with high school and college athletes to help convey these vital messages in a powerful and informed way.

“Ultimately, at Epic we want to make as many at-risk groups as possible aware of the potentially destructive financial implications and health issues that out-of-control gambling can cause. To have someone of Michael’s stature, background, and own lived experience bringing this message to life, will only enhance the work that we passionately believe saves lives.”

Gamesys Group

Online gaming operator Gamesys has announced that Tina Southall, chief people officer, will join the group’s board of directors as an executive director with effect.

The company says that the appointment of Southall, who joined the company in March 2014 to establish and lead a new people team, signals further recognition of its “commitment and priority” to all colleagues.

“I am delighted to welcome Tina to the Gamesys board. She has been at the heart of establishing the Gamesys values, our ‘DNA’ and a highly successful new way of working for the company during the current pandemic,” noted Neil Goulden, non-executive chair at Gamesys Group.

“I am confident that Tina will continue to evolve our culture as we face the future, bringing valuable insight and new perspectives to the Board.”

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The move enables the firm to enhance its focus on providing solutions for gambling harm prevention, and to provide a better reflection of its evolution and scale of operation. 

Paul Buck, EPIC Global Solutions founder and chief executive, commented on the move: “We are excited to unveil our new brand identity, which we believe better reflects our values and mission and the territories in which we work. 

“This rebranding effort represents a significant milestone for our company, ten years since our inception, and we look forward to continuing to serve our partners with the same level of excellence they have come to expect from us across a decade of providing gambling harm prevention.”

It’s a rebranding that will see the company operate under a new logo and visual identity, as it looks to continue its global growth after recently branching out further into the Americas. 

EPIC Global Solutions director of marketing, Michael Clarkson, added: “When we were founded in 2013, we were the first to put lived experience at the heart of everything we do, and will continue to do so as EPIC Global Solutions.

“The company’s new image has been crafted to better represent its position as a global leader in providing solutions to the long-standing issue of gambling-related harm, emphasising making the organisation’s proposition more effortless to understand for US audiences – a location of significant ongoing growth for EPIC. 

“EPIC as a brand is about its people, especially its lived experience facilitators, and their fantastic work. The service EPIC provides is highly emotional, warm, and powerful, and we felt throughout this process that we needed to make sure that the visual message connected to those traits. It was like a book with an amazing story, but the cover didn’t do it justice. 

“Now we have something that we can be proud of, and after a fantastic first decade, the transformation to EPIC Global Solutions sets us up for another amazing decade ahead.”

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The former noted that this is being undertaken in a bid to improve upon a successful year of education delivery, by collaborating to launch “another impactful programme” of gambling-related harm and mental health awareness for the new academic term.

It was noted by the pair that this extension has also been entered into following positive reviews from the previous academic year regarding the level of awareness it helped to generate among students of secondary school age.

Simon Wootton, EPIC’s Programme Coordinator, explained: “Every year we look to ensure that the programme we deliver with support from WHYSUP continues to offer an even greater educational experience for the secondary school children in attendance, and once again we believe that we are experiencing year-on-year improvements in impact and awareness generation.”

Adding: “It points to an educational method that works and we are delighted to be continuing our relationship with WHYSUP to bring the lived experience model to even more schools in 2023/24, ensuring that they benefit from our specialising in gambling-related harm and WHYSUP’s focus on mental health benefits for an age group that faces the many daily challenges of adolescence.”

The EPIC and WHYSUP unity has delivered 221 sessions across 158 state and private schools, which reached a total of 28,734 students.

Following a post-survey visit, 88 per cent of pupils report that they now have good or excellent awareness of the potential harms of gambling, while 93 per cent state that they will gamble less or not at all after attending the sessions.

In addition, 92 per cent of staff members surveyed were completely satisfied with the session provided by the pair, with it also shared that the content was age-appropriate for the pupils.

Further teacher feedback included positive appraisal of the connections that the facilitators are able to draw between gaming and gambling.

“We are delighted to be collaborating with EPIC Risk Management for another 12 months,” said Mark Murray, founder of WHYSUP.

“When we first met Paul Buck [EPIC CEO] in 2019, one of the things he shared was his passion to educate young people. Through four years of partnership, we believe we have made a real difference working in this space.

“Our recent two-year state school programme has been a huge success, combining both organisations’ expertise of gambling harm minimisation and mental health.

“As we go into a new year of partnership, our primary focus is the same as it was in 2019: to make a real difference through collaboration and offer an outstanding education programme for young people.”

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Hailed as a “key marker” of expansion by CEO Paul Buck, Fiore will be charged with utilising industry knowledge to ensure that the gambling harm minimisation consultancy can continue to work directly with key partners, as well as ensuring that harm is reduced wherever possible across all forms of wagering.

“I’m very excited to start as the VP of partnerships, overseeing the growth in the US market, which is obviously a huge opportunity for EPIC,” noted Fiore.

“I have known and think very highly of the EPIC team for a number of years and we’re very much aligned in our thinking and approach to safer gambling.”

She joins the company from online casino and sports betting group PointsBet, where she held the position of Responsible Gambling and Corporate Social Responsibility Manager during a near two and a half year stint.

Prior to this, Fiore was Program Manager of Research and Responsible Gambling at the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.

During a near five year term, she oversaw state-wide responsible gambling programs for land-based casinos.

“This appointment is a key marker of the expansion that EPIC continues to make within the US,” explained CEO Paul Buck.

“We’re delighted to bring Teresa’s extensive knowledge and vital experience into our organisation and value the perspective that she can bring from both a regulatory and industry angle.”

The appointment follows hot on the heels of EPIC naming former Premier League and international footballer Simon Haworth as its latest member, who will be tasked with delivering its education sessions on gambling-related harm.

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Navajo Nation Gaming Enterprise

Brian Parish is to depart Chief Executive Officer duties of the Navajo Nation Gaming Enterprise as of September 5, 2023, to pursue other employment opportunities. 

As a result of an over nine and a half year stint coming to an end, Matthew Shunkamolah, a member of the Navajo Nation, will assume interim CEO responsibilities.

“The board is extremely grateful to Brian for his leadership and commitment to the growth and development of the Gaming Enterprise” said Board Chair Quincy Natay. 

“Under Brian’s leadership, over 84 per cent of our work force are members of the Navajo Nation, and of our 275 leadership positions, 71 per cent are in management and executive leadership positions.

“Brian worked hard to ensure that our team members are taken care of and launched a competitive wage study that was subsequently implemented making a significant difference for many of our employees.”

EPIC Risk Management

Former Premier League and international footballer Simon Haworth has been welcomed as the latest member to the EPIC Risk Management team that is tasked with delivering its education sessions on gambling-related harm.

The ex-Wales, Coventry City, Cardiff City and Wigan Athletic forward recently the consultancy’s long-standing partners WHYSUP as a programme facilitator, and as an extension of that arrangement, he will join group founder Mark Murray in supporting EPIC’s session delivery across a range of sectors as an associate.

“It’s brilliant how EPIC raise awareness and educate. It means a lot to me to be able to share my lived experience within the sports industry,” he explained:

“I’m looking forward to being part of the EFL programme we deliver, and the prospect of the MLS Players Association sessions too.

“I’m really interested in working in the horse racing arena as well; this is an especially rewarding area of work for me, as my gambling addiction was betting on the horses.

“It’s a nice progression from a recent personal project, where I co-founded a podcast called Football Untold where players are interviewed with a focus on their mental health.

“I absolutely love sharing my lived experience; I really enjoy doing it as it’s very powerful. It’s really therapeutic as part of my recovery too.”

Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority

The Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority has disclosed the results of a change to its management board as a result of a general election that four of the nine seats on the tribal council chosen pursuant to staggered term provisions in its constitution.

The governing body of the Mohegan Tribe of Indians of Connecticut revealed that Joseph Soper, Thayne Hutchins Jr, John Harris, and Kim Baker were elected on a four-year term, commencing October 2, 2023.

The former trio are currently members of the tribal council, while Baker will succeed Patricia LaPierre, who did not seek re-election, but will remain a member of the Tribal Council until her successor is seated.

Square in the Air

Square in the Air has appointed Brett Smiley as Vice President of US Operations as the company continues its expansion of North America.

Smiley, a seasoned trade Journalist in the US sports betting and igaming industry, has been tasked with overseeing strategy and delivery for the clients of Square in the Air in North America, as well as driving business development for the firm.

“This is a real coup for Square in the Air,” said Ben Cleminson, Director at Square in the Air. “I’ve known Brett for the past six or seven years and I couldn’t speak highly enough about him.

“He is a real expert when it comes to the sports betting and igaming landscape, a fantastic writer and has a contact book as deep as they come. We are really excited to see what we can build together.”

Andrew Cochrane

Andrew Cochrane has called time on an almost three and half year stay as Senior Vice President of Commercial at Draftkings to take up an unspecified B2B role “in the coming months”.

Prior to the time at operator he occupied the positions of Chief Commercial Officer and Chief Business Development Officer at SBTech, which combined with DraftKings in an agreement that also comprised Diamond Eagle Acquisition Corp almost four years ago. 

“It’s time for me to move on from DraftKings and rather than doing a Harry Kane and saying my goodbyes and one hour later posting about my new role in a different shirt I thought I would give DraftKings the credit they deserve and separate the two,” he wrote on social media.

“It has been a rewarding journey with great memories of signing ground-breaking partnerships and I’ve had the opportunity to work with some of the most exceptional people in the industry.”

Flutter Entertainment

John Bryant has been appointed as Chair of the Flutter Entertainment board and Chair of the nomination committee, effective today (September 1, 2023).

As previously announced on April 27, 2023, he will succeed Gary McGann who stepped down from the board on August 31, 2023.

“I would like to thank Gary for his excellent stewardship of the Flutter Board during his tenure as Chair and previously as non-executive director.,” Bryant noted.

“His expertise, professionalism and commitment are greatly appreciated and on behalf of the Board, I wish Gary well in the future.”

Melvin Ritsema

A self-proclaimed “end of an era” has been declared by Melvin Ritsema, with the LeoVegas General Manager set to depart after a journey that spans a fraction over a decade.

Following positions of Head of Marketing and Chief Marketing Officer at Royal Panda, he became Managing Director and then Commercial Performance Director at LeoVegas following a December 2017 €60m buy-out. He ascended to the role of GM in February 2021.

“It’s been an amazing journey of almost 10 years, that started in a converted house in a small village in the Netherlands with just a handful of people,” he reflected on social media. 

“From the early days of Royal Panda, being involved with almost every activity of the organisation I had the chance to contribute, learn and grow into the role of CMO and eventually Managing Director. 

“After we merged the business with LeoVegas, I became General Manager – ROW Leovegas and most recently had the opportunity to start some new strategic projects. 

“On top of that, I had the honour to be a culture and leadership trainer for 50+ leaders/managers of the group. What a fantastic decade.”

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The two-year agreement is a follow-up to an initial collaboration for a precursor pilot programme delivered by the former, which was followed by a showcase event at The Hippodrome to emphasise the need for harm minimisation training in UK casinos.

Through the new partnership, the gambling harm minimisation consultancy will work on-site at the casino with both licenced and unlicensed customer-facing staff “to ensure that all interactions with clients throughout their entire visit to the casino will have safer gambling practices at the heart of their approach”.

Sam Douglas, Director of Business Services at The Hippodrome Casino, stated: “We are thrilled to partner with EPIC Risk Management to help our employees build empathy and understanding through lived experience.

“The training they provide is invaluable, and we have already seen a positive impact on our team. We are happy that this partnership will assist us in creating a safe environment for our players in the years to come.”

EPIC’s first such programme will include a series of 20 workshops and four focus group evaluation sessions examining key best practice areas, identifying risk and harm in player activity, vulnerability, stigma, meaningful interactions and increasing confidence.

Led by Joanna Whitehall, Sustainability Manager at EPIC – who has 25 years of land-based casino environment experience – the programme will be co-facilitated by the consultancy’s extensive lived experience of both gambling-related harm and land-based casino management, helping The Hippodrome’s staff apply the knowledge in real-world scenarios. Evaluation sessions will also take place to assess staff’s learning post-course.

Whitehall commented: “We’re very pleased to have further strengthened a very close working relationship with The Hippodrome Casino. We hear examples of the gambling-harm journey experienced by a number of our facilitators throughout the company. 

“Training of this nature hasn’t been standard practice previously in casinos, so it stands to reason that customer-facing staff who may have felt an urge to intervene in cases of harm may not have had the knowledge on how to deal with such clients.

“Now we can provide specific examples of markers of harm, and how to bring up the conversation with confidence and empathy with the intention of identifying risk and preventing gambling-related harm before it happens.

“We look forward to working with The Hippodrome Casino further, to improve safety and confidence for staff and clients alike, and trust that we can continue to expand the reach of this programme to other land-based casinos across the UK who have expressed an interest in a similar project at their venue.”

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Through the partnership, EPIC’s logo will be featured on the front of Slough’s away shirts as they compete in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football.

Slough is a semi-professional football team whose first team manager, Scott Davies, is also a Programme Facilitator for EPIC.

The company will be the front-of-shirt sponsor for Slough’s away shirt for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 seasons.

Commenting on the partnership, Paul Buck, CEO of EPIC Risk Management, said: “There’s a special personal connection between EPIC and Slough Town thanks to Scott Davies and therefore we’re delighted to support the direction he’s looking to take the club as the new away shirt sponsors.

“We’ve enjoyed our working relationship with Ashley Smith and the A23 Football Group since they became the majority owners of the club and their vision to give something back to the local community is something that resonates with us.

“We exist in order to take the problem out of gambling and are proud that our identity will travel on the road with Slough this season.

“We hope that our presence on the away shirts will help to prompt questions about who we are and what we do, in order to raise wider awareness of gambling-related harm and the effects it can have on people from all walks of life.”

Earlier this month, EPIC stated that it would like to see consultations for the UK gambling white paper take a prevention-based strategy to minimise gambling-related harm, as well as take into account those that have been affected by gambling harm.

SBC Sponsorship Director, George Harborne, added on the partnership: “It is a pleasure to see EPIC take on the sponsorship of the Slough FC away jersey in what is clearly the further strengthening of ties between club staff and leadership, and the industry-leading gambling harm prevention consultancy.

“With EPIC already working with major rights holders and operators internationally to raise awareness and combat gambling harm through their programmes and initiatives, it is great to see grassroots sport also represented through this new partnership.”

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In a recent blog for the gambling harm minimisation consultancy, which follows a BBC interview, Sproson noted that “we owe it to the next generation” to heighten awareness of protections from harmful elements of gameplay.

“At EPIC Risk Management, we have long been calling for a complete restriction on any access to loot boxes for under 18s, as their mechanisms are an obvious gateway to gambling,” he wrote.

These can be accessed through gameplay, or purchased with in-game items, virtual currencies or directly with real-world money, and are intended as an additional supplement to play.

Recent guidance introduced by a Technical Working Group, the work and research of which was led by industry trade body UK Interactive Entertainment, are designed to drive “improvements and protections”.

Among these are an introduction of technological controls designed to prevent under-18’s from purchasing loot boxes without a parent or guardian’s consent. 

However, the TWG highlighted the limitations of parental controls in video games “as only as effective as the underlying age verification process”. Game developers and platform providers have been urged to adopt enhanced age-verification solutions to ensure the use of loot boxes for all users. 

Further recommendations include a public awareness campaign and more lenient refund policies. The industry is also urged to disclose probability information transparently in a bid to allow players to make more informed decisions about their purchases.

“We owe it to the next generation to protect them from the harmful elements of game play”

However, Sproson suggested that these may not go far enough. “The guidelines … are a huge step in the right direction, but there is still a long way to go and generally, my opinion – and that of EPIC Risk Management – is that it should be a legal requirement for loot boxes to only be sold to people over the age of 18, as is the case in some neighbouring countries like Belgium and the Netherlands,” he said. 

“This is something that has been under discussion over the last 12 months in the UK and we hope it is a policy that will be put into place in the future.”

However, despite reiterating a belief that more could be done to shield children “from the risk that loot boxes pose”, Sproson noted that “it is refreshing to finally see some movement in an area that is only growing in size year by year”.

He concluded: “Some video game companies release their games for free, knowing children will then spend large sums of money on them, and under 18s make up a huge portion of the above amount spent.

“The most important takeaway from this latest development is that it only highlights the need for education across the board. 

“The education sessions that our teams present in schools are absolutely critical to our aim of prevention, but more than that, we need to raise further awareness among parents and the games industry themselves.

“My story … is just one of countless cases every year where loot boxes, if they become an addictive pastime, can become harmful to individuals and their families. 

“We owe it to the next generation to protect them from the harmful elements of game play and educate adult gamers on the potential risks, so that they can make their own informed decision on their relationship with the loot box element of their favourite games.”

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Speaking during an appearance at the Westminster Media Forum on ‘Next steps for gambling policy and regulation in the UK’, the gambling harm minimisation consultancy’s Director of Safer Gambling, Dan Spencer, shared the company’s thoughts on the recent white paper.

Spencer stated: “As thought leaders in how gambling harm can be prevented at EPIC Risk Management, we are aware of the responsibility placed upon us when we have the chance to speak on forums such as this, and as such, our suggestions for how we can achieve the safest possible gambling industry for the UK population stem from years of lived experience of gambling harm and what we have learned from putting this into practice in environments where the potential for future harm exists.”

The two points highlighted by EPIC were a call for a prevention-based strategy to minimise gambling-related harm, as well as to take into account those that have been affected by gambling harm during the consultation period on how the white paper’s recommendations will be implemented.

Regarding prevention-based strategy to minimise gambling-related harm, Spencer brought attention to work being supported by RET funding. He also stated that the incoming mandatory levy should be independently commissioned to allow for potential prevention-based projects.

As for listening to those affected by gambling-related harm within the white paper’s consultations, the EPIC Director explained that lived experiences need to be taken into account to make sure policies can help reduce gambling harm.

Spencer added: “Our points around a prevention-based strategy and listening to the lived experience of those who have experienced problem gambling are a viewpoint that we have firmly established through a decade of delivering successful programmes that utilise both of these strategies and have a positive impact in preventing future gambling-related harm.

“It is a blueprint that we believe can be followed by others to ensure that together we minimise the potential for future problem gambling and hold trust in the fact that the ongoing consultation period on the implementation of the white paper is the optimum time to ensure that this happens wherever possible.”

At the Westminster Media Forum, Spencer spoke alongside Lord Foster of Bath, Chair of the Peers for Gambling Reform Group, the Rt Hon Lord Butler of Brockwell and several figures from gambling and gambling harm prevention including Entain, Kindred and Betknowmore.

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Following what was reported as a “rigorous scrutiny” of policies and processes by assessors, the gambling harm minimisation consultancy was found to have met “the highest standards”.

The independent appraisal evaluated EPIC’s policies, procedures, governance and wider business, which included compliance and legislation to health and safety as well as continuous improvement to HR practices.

“We continually evaluate our processes, identify areas for enhancement, and implement measures to drive efficiency, effectiveness, and overall performance throughout EPIC,” explained Buck.

“Meeting ISO 9001 requires a year-round commitment to undertaking high quality processes and we believe that this is reflected in the quality of services we are able to offer to our clients around the world.

“We are also pleased that the lived experience element of our work was recognised as a noteworthy element of the assessment, as this is one of the many features that makes EPIC Risk Management unique in our drive to minimise the risk of gambling-related harm through education and prevention methods.”

ISO 9001, which is utilised by over one million businesses, is an internationally recognised standard for quality management. It provides a framework for ensuring that organisations consistently deliver products or services that meet customer requirements. 

Alongside the latest certification, EPIC has also begun the latest three-year cycle of Investor in People accreditation. The ambition is to improve upon the company’s current gold standard.

Louise Flynn, EPIC Risk Management’s head of business support, commented: “During the assessment, the auditor commented on EPIC’s inspiring mission and was in awe of the facilitators who use their experience to warn against the risk of gambling day in, and day out.

“In her words, she was ‘bowled over’ by the organisation and the people working for it.  

“ISO9001 ensures we create an environment where we strive for quality in both the output of our work and the services we offer, as well as the successful development of our staff.

“Continuous improvement is a key focus for ISO 9001 and we encourage all staff to follow best practice by keeping track of improvements they’re working on or using recording mechanisms to track meetings or progress within ongoing projects.”

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