London’s Hippodrome Casino, home of PokerStars’ live poker room, is upping the ante on safer gambling with a first-of-its-kind staff training program.

London’s Hippodrome Casino will improve customer safety by delivering a new responsible gambling training program in conjunction with EPIC Risk Management. (Image: Hippodromeonline.com)

Changes to the UK’s Gambling Act have prompted a new push to raise standards with regards to responsible gambling. As one of the UK’s largest and most recognizable casinos, the Hippodrome has partnered with EPIC Risk Management to embrace the changes and implement a series of new policies.

The latest innovation will see EPIC deliver an onsite staff training program. Aimed at members of staff across all parts of the casino, the training program will focus on harm minimization and customer safety.

EPIC lands two-year contract after pilot program takes off

The Hippodrome Casino and EPIC partnered up this year to run a pilot program aimed at harm minimization. They parlayed this into a showcase event at the London casino before agreeing a two-year deal that will see them work together on a variety of problem gambling innovations.

Kicking off the new partnership will be 20 onsite workshops and four focus group sessions. The aim of these events is to educate members of staff about the dangers of problem gambling. Each workshop will provide practical examples so that participants can learn how to apply their knowledge in real-world situations.

Commenting on the new contract with London’s Hippodrome Casino, EPIC’s sustainability manager, Joanna Whitehall, said it’s an opportunity to pioneer new techniques in harm minimization.

“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,” said Whitehall.

This is the first time a UK casino operator has provided a training program like this. Although casino workers are given basic training in responsible gambling protocols, there is often a disconnect between theory and reality.

Hippodrome Casino embraces responsible gambling era

Specifically, members of staff are often told that responsible gambling is important but they’re not trained to spot problems or intervene when situations arise. Whitehall believes EPIC’s new program will bridge that gap.

“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,” she continued.

The UK government has been hot on reducing gambling-related harm in recent years. An updated Gambling Act has slowly altered the way online operators provide services in the UK. There’s also been a push to make in-person gambling safer.

Whitehall is confident EPIC’s innovative training program will increase staff confidence and improve customer safety at the Hippodrome and, ultimately, other casinos in the UK.