EPIC Global Solutions continued making news in the early days of Problem Gambling Awareness Month as it announced its first conference-wide partnership on Tuesday with the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The global organization, which specializes in lived experience testimonials and gambling harm minimization workshops in the athletic sphere, has made inroads with dozens of U.S. colleges in recent years, including ACC members Duke, Louisville, Miami, North Carolina, Pitt, and N.C. State. In fact, EPIC staff spent this past Monday and Tuesday providing various services on campus at N.C. State as mobile betting apps in North Carolina prepare to go live on March 11.
“We’re working directly with the athletic department,” Dr. Meg Popovic, EPIC's newly minted senior senior professional sports manager, said of the N.C. State visit in a conversation with Sports Handle on Tuesday. “The first day, we met with the entire staff of the football team, then the women’s basketball team, then we did a workshop with the football players. Today, we met with 150 staff at the PNC Arena. They came in for an eight o’clock workshop. We’re meeting tonight with the men’s basketball team, another staff group.'
“They really want to have the athlete at the center of everything they do and have similar messages communicated to the staff involved in caring for their well-being.”
Popovic knows that aspect of sports well. After serving on the faculty of Brescia University's School of Leadership and Social Change for five years, Popovic basically created the position of director of player welfare and performance with the Toronto Maple Leafs for herself after watching her brother, an ex-NHL player, go through an emotional wringer while in the league.
“Many moons ago, I did a Ph.D and a Masters in how athletes find meaning in their lives through sport through the lens of culture,” she explained. “I saw, from a familial sense, things that, even to this day, are kept private because an athlete has to be extremely cognizant of showing weakness. When I was working in the NHL within a hockey club, I was trying to create a department of well-being and performance in a sporting culture where emotional, mental addiction, those types of personal challenges, it would be to the detriment of the athlete to have that be exposed.
“Gambling in particular, I didn’t always know how to handle circumstances that arose. When I met the people who worked at EPIC, it was at a time when I was moving into consulting. It was a breath of fresh air.”
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'Comfortable going toward that edge'
While seated in the student quad at N.C. State's Raleigh campus, Popovic helped explain why athletes are six times more likely to gamble than non-athletes.
“I think at an innate level, this unique ability that athletes have to gauge risk and feel comfortable going toward that edge and striving for greatness, combine that with a pressurized environment, social isolation, and a tremendous amount of free time, and it all leads to behaviors that, if left unchecked, can create unique challenges for them,” she said.
So far, she said some questions from student-athletes were along the lines of, “Where do I reach out if I'm being bullied online?”
Beyond that, she said, “There have been a few athletes who've already reached out and asked questions on a personal level about various family members and curiosity around gambling and resources.”
“We are dedicated to ensuring our student-athletes and administrators are educated in this exceedingly important area,” ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips said in a press release announcing the EPIC partnership. “EPIC continues to be a leader with experts that will provide educational resources to assist in identifying the risks that come with legalized sports wagering.”