MLB experience added to EPIC’s roster as Sanford signs up

Jake Sanford, the former New York Yankees third-round draft pick, has become the latest player with a high-profile sporting background to join EPIC Global Solutions and support their mission to educate audiences about the potential risks of gambling-related harm.

The 26-year-old from Nova Scotia saw his MLB career hit by gambling addiction – which included owing several debtors and receiving death threats directed to his parents – and meant that he left New York without a big-league appearance. However, his career continues with Ottawa Titans in the Frontier League, and he will be presenting to audiences on EPIC’s behalf to fit around his ongoing playing commitments.

Sanford has previously cited a $3,000 slot machine win at a Mississippi casino during part of a tournament road-trip with Western Kentucky University as the potential catalyst for his later issues, so his experience of gambling as a student-athlete will be of particular benefit for a run of proposed speaking engagements about his back story that is likely to cover EPIC’s educational arrangements with the likes of the NCAA, MLB and MLS Players Association.

“I want to be there to help people, so that they don’t get to the point where I got to,” admits Sanford.

“It just started out like entertainment, but then I obviously got signed and I had a little bit more money to play with, so at first you think ‘I can lose this and I’ll be OK’, but those days piled on and on, and then next thing you know, it’s all gone. I did mess up early in my life, but I’m still young, so I’m trying to get back to where I need to be and I want to help people along the way.”

Reflecting on making another valuable addition to the EPIC team, the company’s VP of partnerships Teresa Fiore explained:

“As any sports player will tell you, there’s no better person to learn from than someone who has been there and done it themselves, so for us, Jake is the equivalent of an experienced coach sharing their knowledge with their team.

“What’s more, he is of similar age range to many of our audiences, so his story is especially relatable.”

Sanford’s arrival comes immediately after EPIC also announced the recruitment of former pro basketball point guard Stevin ‘Hedake’ Smith as US sports advisor, following his widely-known involvement in point-shaving during his college career, and a strengthening of its European team, with former Premier League and international soccer star Dominic Matteo also joining as a programme facilitator to educate leading names in soccer, rugby union and horse racing about his previous gambling addiction issues.