All Bets Are Off

Given that around a quarter of our listeners reside in the United States of America, the All Bets Are Off podcast wished to pay homage to our recovery friends, and those contemplating recovery, across the Atlantic Ocean. We believe that this particular episode comes at a time when the landscape of the gambling industry over in the US is evolving rapidly each and every day.

In this episode we welcome three individuals that each have lived-experience of gambling addiction, Jake Fincher, Brian Hatch & Paul Buck.

1st guest: Jake Fincher - comes from the Southern state of Georgia and dissects his longstanding battle with gambling addiction and how it drove him to the brink of taking his own life, and how he later found recovery through Gamblers Anonymous

2nd guest: Brian Hatch (Co-host of All In: The Addicted Gambler's Podcast) - now residing in Connecticut, Brian opens up about his addiction to land-based casino's, he has now been gamble-free since July 2014, and over the past few years has racked up well over a century of episodes as co-host of his own podcast alongside Jeff Wasserman

3rd guest: Paul Buck (CEO of EPIC Risk Management) - EPIC Risk Management have been, and continue to be, at the forefront of the gambling education and harm-prevention sector in the UK, and have recently launched their model over in the US market - in this discussion we find out the reasons why and what EPIC are wanting to achieve

The All Bets Are Off team are joined by George Cooper and Kerri Nicholls to discuss the disproportionate levels of gambling harm among the LGBQT+ community.  

Lonely and isolated, George's gambling addiction began in late 2016 following the breakdown of a personal relationship. Later in the show, Kerri reveals that gambling was normalised in the football changing room environment that she was a part of. During today's episode we explore the coming out and draw-on some similarities between this process and speaking openly about an addiction to gambling.

Following the success of Women's Week in season one; the All Bets Are Off Podcast again shine the spotlight on gambling harm among women. 

In this episode we briefly catch up with two of our former guests Jean Mulleary and Lisa Walker, whom following their introduction on the podcast around five months ago, became good friends and now work together.

This week's host Tracey Gritt welcomes Nicole Hannah onto the show. Nicole shares her lived experience of gambling addition and tells us about the underground world of the gambling scene, which involves drug-dealers and unrepentant loan sharks.

Tracey is later joined by founder of Level Ground Therapy, leading UK therapist in gambling addiction in women, author and consultant Liz Carter to discuss her role and learnings within the sector.

The panel welcome a couple of guests from abroad in this special edition of the All Bets Are Off podcast which focuses on gambling addiction related matters from around the world. 

First-up we speak to Anna Bardsley regarding the problems that her native Australia has with the pokies and the tireless advocacy for positive change that she had embarked on over the years. Later in the show we chat to Collins Muhinda, the face of the BBC Africa Eye documentary Gamblers like me: The dark side of sports betting, as we discuss the rise of sports betting in Uganda.

The All Bets Are Off podcast kick-off series two with our Gambling Harm Among The Student Population episode. Our first guest is Bray Ash, a recovering gambling addict who once gambled his whole student loan within 24 hours. In the second part of the show we welcome the founder of Deal Me Out, Jordan Lea. Within this section we learn more about the tactics of land-based casinos and how they attempt to snare university students.