EPIC selected as CSPPA gambling awareness partner

EPIC Risk Management has been selected by the Counter-Strike Professional Players’ Association (CSPPA) to become its global Gambling Awareness Partner.

This agreement, lauded as the ‘first of its kind’, will see EPIC and CSPPA work together to minimise gambling-related harm within the esports sector.

“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,” commented Paul Buck, CEO of EPIC Risk Management.  

“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.”

CSPPA members will benefit from a series of sessions and engagements designed to ‘provide impactful and proven awareness’ of the risks associated with gambling, in addition to risk management programmes delivered by EPIC.

Buck continued: “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’s 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 esports gaming and  gambling.” 

CSPPA is the worldwide association for professional players of the largely popular Counter-Strike video game, which regularly features in esports events.

For EPIC, this latest agreement strengthens its presence in the esports sector, having previously appointed Jonathan Peniket as its esports and Online Gaming consultant. His appointment, said EPIC, forms part of its wider strategy to deliver sessions in the company’s  education and professional sports pillars in the UK, Europe and the USA. 

Mads Øland, CSPPA CEO, concluded:  “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  recognised as the leading organisation globally for gambling awareness and have conducted  proven programmes across many mainstream traditional sports at an elite level.”