EPIC Risk Management enters “first-of-its-kind” deal with London’s Hippodrome Casino

The gambling harm minimisation business will work on-site at the casino.

UK.- The gambling harm reduction business EPIC Risk Management entered into a two-year deal to work on-site at The Hippodrome Casino in London. The deal follows a pilot programme and a showcase event at The Hippodrome.

EPIC will provide training to licenced and unlicensed customer-facing staff through 20 workshops and four focus group evaluation sessions on best practice, identifying risk and harm in player activity, vulnerability, stigma, meaningful interactions and increasing confidence. The Hippodrome’s staff will be trained to apply knowledge in real-world scenarios, while evaluation sessions will assess staff learning at the end of the course.

The initiative aims “to ensure that all interactions with clients throughout their entire visit to the casino will have safer gambling practices at the heart of their approach”.

Sam Douglas, director of business services at The Hippodrome Casino, said: “We are thrilled to partner with EPIC Risk Management to help our employees build empathy and understanding through lived experience.

“The training they provide is invaluable, and we have already seen a positive impact on our team. We are happy that this partnership will assist us in creating a safe environment for our players in the years to come.”

The project will be led by EPIC’s sustainability manager Joanna Whitehall, who has 25 years of land-based casino experience. 

She said: “We’re very pleased to have further strengthened a very close working relationship with The Hippodrome Casino. We hear examples of the gambling-harm journey experienced by a number of our facilitators throughout the company. 

“Training of this nature hasn’t been standard practice previously in casinos, so it stands to reason that customer-facing staff who may have felt an urge to intervene in cases of harm may not have had the knowledge on how to deal with such clients.

“Now we can provide specific examples of markers of harm, and how to bring up the conversation with confidence and empathy with the intention of identifying risk and preventing gambling-related harm before it happens.

“We look forward to working with The Hippodrome Casino further, to improve safety and confidence for staff and clients alike, and trust that we can continue to expand the reach of this programme to other land-based casinos across the UK who have expressed an interest in a similar project at their venue.”

EPIC Risk Management recently announced a sponsorship deal with Slough FC under which it will be the main sponsor of the team’s away kit, with its logo on the front of shirts.

Slough club manager Scott Davies is a Programme Facilitator at EPIC. The sponsorship aims to raise awareness of the company’s prevention programmes, strategic advisory and training.