PAC to engage with EPIC to educate student-athletes around gambling-related harm
The Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) has taken a proactive approach to preventing gambling-related harm amongst the student-athletes and staff within its member colleges by signing an agreement with world-leading problem gambling consultancy EPIC Global Solutions to help raise awareness of the issue.
In doing so, PAC has become the first NCAA Division III conference to agree a bespoke consultancy and education program with EPIC to inform and protect the competition’s key participants regarding sports wagering issues, via a program focused on helping staff to identify the potential risks posed by the continued growth of all forms of gambling.
Via an initial six-month consultancy period covering multiple subjects, EPIC will address all athletic directors and other key staff from all PAC member schools at its annual conference, using its consultants’ lived experience of problem gambling to advise how athletes are at a statistically increased risk of being exposed to various forms of gambling-related harm. Many of EPIC’s presenters are former NCAA-standard athletes who experienced gambling addiction issues that affected their lives during or after their time as student-athletes, providing a unique and relatable insight into how addiction can form.
Additionally, the two parties will collaborate to gather insights from PAC colleges to understand what additional support the institutions and their student-athletes need in order to address the issue, while EPIC will deliver a gambling readiness guide to provide context around legalized sports betting for all PAC members and raise awareness of areas of heightened risk to collegiate athletics.
“Since sports betting became legal and so accessible online, the PAC and administrators in our conference have been searching for a way to educate our student-athletes and staff about the potential dangers of online gambling,” said PAC Commissioner Joe Onderko.
“This partnership with EPIC Global Solutions will help provide our conference schools with the tools to help our athletes be better informed about possible issues that can be brought on by online gambling.”
“There has been plenty of recent discussion around sports wagering involving student-athletes, so this is a timely collaboration,” explained Mike Holinski, VP partnerships at EPIC.
“We commend the PAC for taking additional steps to ensure that every individual within their competition is receiving additional information on the kind of threats they may face while competing in sports with significant public interest.”
EPIC is currently three years into an agreement to educate student-athletes and staff on a face-to-face basis regarding the potential risks of wagering, with staff touring college campuses to share their first-hand experience of the situation. So far, more than 71,000 student-athletes and staff from over 200 colleges across the US have attended an EPIC session, which came into being in response to the considerable growth in sports wagering since the repeal of PASPA in 2018.
