SBC and Better Gambling Forum Forge Strategic Partnership for Player Safety

Partnership between BGF and SBC

The Better Gambling Forum (BGF) and SBC Events & Media have signed a strategic partnership to advance a practical, scalable approach to player protection across North America and beyond.

The partnership will leverage SBC’s events and media platforms to drive engagement with BGF’s Responsible Gambling 3.0 framework, with a focus on translating policy and research into real-world implementation for operators, regulators, and health systems.

BGF and SBC to convene a flagship panel at SBC Summit Americas

BGF Chair Shawn Fluharty commented: “The Better Gambling Forum focuses on turning evidence into action. Through our Responsible Gambling 3.0 framework and independent scientific oversight, we’re helping policymakers, regulators and operators move beyond good intentions towards solutions that genuinely reduce harm. 

“The next phase of our work is about scale and consistency – building practical, evidence-led standards that support a safer, more sustainable gambling ecosystem for players, industry and society alike. We’re excited to work with SBC to broaden our reach at their Americas Summit and beyond.”

As part of the collaboration, BGF and SBC will convene a flagship panel at SBC Summit Americas (June 9–11) examining how to build a modern public health response to problem gambling, while also promoting healthier engagement with the gambling industry.

Leaders to participate

The session will bring together leaders across public health, policy, industry, and digital platforms, including:

• Patrick J. Kennedy, former U.S. Congressman; national leader on mental health and
  addiction;
• Dr Nathan Carroll, National Medical Director at InSite Health; Member, American Psychiatric Association’s Council on Digital Health, Innovation, and Technology;
• Toby Ewing, Stanford School of Medicine; Brain Capital Advisor; and former Executive Director, California Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission;
• Paul Pellizzari, Vice President – Global Social Responsibility, Hard Rock International; 
• Dr Eraka Bath, Professor of Psychiatry, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA.  
   

Player Protection Hub 

The Summit session is the first in a series of discussions across SBC’s events and media channels – such as the Player Protection Hub – which aim to promote and internationalise the BGF’s agenda of building practical legislative and operational frameworks to promote a truly safe and sustainable gambling ecosystem. 

SBC Managing Director Andrew McCarron said: “We’ve made some great strides in recent years with the Player Protection Hub online, and Player Protection Symposiums in Lisbon, Florida and Toronto. We hope these channels can turbo-charge the BGF’s work and that SBC can play its part in bringing about real, positive and practical progress for an industry we all know is hugely innovative – let’s make sure it is also safe and sustainable for everyone.”

The panel – and future discussions – will explore practical pathways forward, including early policy, intervention models, integration with broader behavioural health systems, the role of digital platforms in shaping behaviour, and how the industry can align around consistent standards for player protection.

Importantly, the work of BGF is being overseen by an independent Scientific Oversight Committee, made up of eight academics with gambling expertise from around the globe. The goal of the committee is to ensure that the work of BGF is firmly grounded in evidence, ethics, and best practice.

The panel forms part of a strong programme of safer gambling content at SBC Summit Americas, with a dedicated Player Protection Symposium on the breakout stage featuring some of the most important and influential thought leaders from across North and South America.