Arkansas Razorbacks football team educated on minimising gambling’s risks

A new semester of education sessions aimed at alerting NCAA student-athletes and staff to the potential hidden risks of gambling is underway, with a keynote session to the Arkansas Razorbacks football team being an opening week highlight of EPIC Global Solutions’ 2024/25 programme.

The University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville played host to EPIC’s senior programme facilitator Patrick Chester, whose back story of serious gambling-related harm was the basis for a discussion intended to provoke thought among the 120-strong roster of players and staff, ensuring that everyone in attendance was aware of the human cost of gambling addiction and how it can relate to other forms of gambling-related harm, such as integrity breaches.

The presentation was delivered as part of an ongoing programme backed by the NCAA and Entain Foundation US, with the intention of ensuring that student-athletes experience a safer relationship with all forms of wagering and are aware of the restrictions and bylaws that apply to them. So far, more than 55,000 student-athletes and staff have received the programme’s message in-person during its first two-and-a-half years.

Danny Wheeler, director of player development with Arkansas Razorbacks, believes that the timing of the visit was key, given the growing connection between sports wagering and college sports.

“Gambling is the number one pressure that’s facing student-athletes right now,” he explained. “It’s something that they have to be aware of, and we also need to understand as coaches. Once we understand that, I think we’ll start to pick up on some of the things that we need to figure out about what gambling is, and the pressures that student-athletes are going through right now.

“We all need to be aware of the dos and the don’ts; the things that we should and shouldn’t be doing as college athletes. It was very important for us to bring in EPIC Global Solutions, and Patrick and his team did a fantastic job.

“I think the message was really well received. The team really loved it – they were engaged and they asked a lot of questions. The good thing is that it wasn’t an actual lecture, it was something presented to them that they can relate to and that’s going to resonate very well with them, I guarantee you, for the rest of their lives.”

Explaining the premise behind the programme – and why it is delivered in person by facilitators who have each experienced different forms of gambling-related harm and have all played sport to a similar standard as the student-athletes – EPIC’s Patrick Chester explained:

“We provide what I refer to as the human element. We were athletes at one point in time and we were also athletes who crossed over to what I refer to as the dark side of gambling.

“That connection and relatability with athletes is why we do what we do and helps to get our message across, because we’ve been in their shoes and been in those rooms listening to people speak and present. To do it from a human perspective is so important.”

The sessions are available to all NCAA colleges across every state and every division to ensure that the message reaches the widest possible range of student-athletes, coaches and player welfare staff.