#PGAM2025: A month to help people ‘Seeking Understanding’ of problem gambling
Problem Gambling Awareness Month returns for 2025 with a theme of ‘Seeking Understanding’: a perfect subject matter to summarise what EPIC Global Solutions seeks to help people to achieve on the topic of problem gambling.
Every March, the US acknowledges the awareness campaign in order to raise public understanding of the issue of problem gambling, making it one of the key annual campaigns that EPIC endorse and support via a range of initiatives.
Central to our story-telling each year is our remarkable team of lived experience consultants, who will once again be pivotal in our messaging, sharing the insight around their gambling harm journey that helps others to comprehend the concept. Regular contributions across our website and social media platform from our team in the US will focus on how they came to understand their own issues with gambling, how their loved ones did likewise, and how their lived experience is now channeled into helping others to recognizing the issue.
The importance of learning from those who have personal experience of problem gambling will be evident from the weekly content series, and will feature – among others – one of EPIC’s senior consultants, Patrick Chester.
Reflecting on how he continues to make sense of his considerable losses – both from to his personal freedom and financial – and the importance of those learnings for the benefit of others, he explains.
“Not a day goes by where I don’t think back to the dark days. Not to dwell on those days, but to use them as motivation. I found my soul through my struggle, I found my purpose in life because of what I went through and what I put my family through.
“I never could’ve imagined this opportunity nine years ago, while sitting in a jail cell. Knowing that I’ve turned a catastrophic event into a positive is extremely rewarding. It’s the quiet conversations in the corner of a room, with an affected other, or a concerned friend. Those are the moments that hit me.”
His thoughts are echoed by fellow consultant and contributor to this month’s content, Liz Thielen, who added:
“It means everything to be able to do what I do now. I feel like I didn’t have a fighting chance, not knowing anything about disordered gambling as I had actively sought to protect my self from addiction.
“Making sure that the people I get to meet with at the very least know of the potential risks in itself is worth the discomfort and sometime draining experience it can be to share my story repeatedly. That some many will also come away better equipped to make intentional and informed decisions about gambling makes it all worth it.”
Beyond the content series with our team, the month will also provide pertinent opportunities to highlight new relationships between EPIC and other organizations who are working together to promote awareness of gambling harm prevention messaging.
Additionally, there will be coverage of special events taking place across the US to boost knowledge of the issue, including a special focus on the state of Rhode Island, where EPIC is working with Bally’s, the Rhode Island Council on Problem Gambling and the Rhode Island Lottery to promote a series of ‘challenges’ urging state residents to think about their relationship with all forms of wagering.
To stay in touch with all the #PGAM2025 coverage across EPIC channels, make sure you follow or subscribe to all of our social platforms, including:
Stay tuned for a number of special live events towards the end of the month, for which advance registration is advised. Full details will be provided via epicglobalsolutions.com and the above social platforms.
