League of Ireland gambling harm education programme

The launch of the League of Ireland Gambling Harm Education Programme is more than a one-off awareness campaign, it is a league-wide attempt to bake prevention, integrity, and welfare into Irish domestic football. Announced via a League of Ireland press release, the initiative is positioned as the first unified programme of its scale to be integrated across every club’s competitions.

For the iGaming industry, this matters because it reflects a broader reality that has been building for years. Gambling is now part of the modern sports economy, and with that comes a higher expectation that leagues, sponsors, and specialist educators actively manage risk. In this case, the League of Ireland is moving from ad hoc messaging to a structured educational strategy delivered consistently across clubs.

What the League of Ireland programme actually includes

The programme starts later this month with on-site workshops delivered at club training facilities, creating a standardised preventive framework that the league says was previously absent from Irish domestic football. The delivery partner is EPIC Global Solutions, a firm specialising in integrity education and gambling harm prevention in professional sport.

Crucially, the scope is not confined to players. The League of Ireland is taking a holistic approach that includes coaches, referees, and association staff, which is an important signal that gambling-related harm and compliance pressures do not sit with one group alone.

• On-site workshops at club training facilities to establish a consistent prevention framework,
• Delivery by EPIC Global Solutions with a focus on gambling harm prevention and integrity education,
• Inclusion of players, coaches, referees, and association staff so the whole football ecosystem shares responsibility.

Why this is a landmark move for Irish domestic football

The league describes this as the first time a unified programme of this scale is being integrated across every club’s competitions. From a market and governance perspective, that is significant because scale is what turns good intentions into measurable outcomes. A scattered approach, even if well-meaning, often fails to reach the people who need it most, and it can leave gaps between clubs, age groups, and competitions.

The scale is defined clearly in the rollout plan. There are 70 workshops scheduled annually, with the goal of educating more than 2,000 people across 32 senior men’s and women’s squads, 26 Under-17 academy teams, and 10 Women’s Development League teams, alongside relevant match officials and administrative staff. That is the kind of coverage that can realistically shift culture over time, not just raise awareness for a week.

In practical terms, the League of Ireland is framing gambling harm education as a standard part of how football operates, rather than an add-on that only appears when a controversy hits. That framing matters because it treats prevention as routine professional practice, similar to how clubs think about physical conditioning, safeguarding, and conduct expectations.

The role of Flutter funding and what it signals

The initiative is funded by Flutter, which has a history of supporting EPIC’s work. Flutter UK and Ireland CEO Kevin Harrington said the company is proud to support the League of Ireland’s commitment to proactive prevention and education through an independently delivered programme. From an iGaming analyst’s viewpoint, the phrase independently delivered is a key part of the credibility architecture here.

This partnership is also presented as mirroring a successful 2017 collaboration with the English Football League and Sky Bet, a programme described as thriving for eight years and reaching over 10,000 people. That reference does two things at once. It positions the League of Ireland project as tested and replicable, and it anchors the funding decision in a precedent with measurable reach.

For operators, funding education in sport is increasingly scrutinised through two lenses. One is legitimacy, namely whether the programme is designed and delivered in a way that genuinely prioritises welfare. The other is integrity, because the reputational downside of betting scandals in sport tends to be shared across leagues, sponsors, and the wider gambling ecosystem. In this case, the project explicitly tries to cover both.

Rare alignment across the football ecosystem

The new Irish framework receives official backing from the Football Association of Ireland, the National League Committee, and the Professional Footballers Association of Ireland. This is described as a rare alignment between regulators and players, and that matters because education programmes are most effective when participants do not see them as imposed from the outside.

In many jurisdictions and sports, gambling harm initiatives can struggle when governance bodies, commercial partners, and player representatives pull in different directions. Here, the League of Ireland is emphasising shared ownership across governance and labour, which can help workshops land as practical and relevant rather than performative.

That alignment also supports consistency. When the same message is reinforced by competition rules, player associations, and club leadership, the educational component becomes easier to translate into day-to-day decisions. This is especially important in environments where young athletes are moving quickly through academies into senior squads.

Lived experience is central to the workshop design

A cornerstone of the workshops is the use of lived experience. Rather than relying on abstract theories, sessions are led by former professional athletes who have personally struggled with gambling addiction. The League of Ireland and EPIC are clearly betting on authenticity as the hook that keeps people engaged.

Notable contributors named in the announcement include former Premier League player Dominic Matteo, Slough Town player-manager Scott Davies, and former EFL player Marc Williams. Their job is not to deliver generic warnings, it is to connect gambling harm to the emotional and professional realities of elite sport in a way that feels credible to current players and staff.

Rather than relying on abstract theories, the sessions are led by former professional athletes who have personally struggled with gambling addiction.

From a behavioural standpoint, this approach fits what many sports environments respond to best. Participants who have been through dressing rooms, contract pressure, injury cycles, and the scrutiny of results can explain risk in a language that resonates. That is likely to be particularly important when the programme is trying to reach not just senior squads, but Under-17 academy teams and women’s development pathways as well.

Integrity education and UEFA-aligned compliance as a second pillar

The programme includes a rigorous betting integrity component aligned with UEFA standards. That detail is a reminder that gambling harm education in sport is not only about individual wellbeing, it also involves protecting competitions from conflicts of interest and rule-breaking.

The workshops reinforce Football Association of Ireland regulations that strictly forbid players and staff from betting on any football matches. By putting this into the educational framework, the League of Ireland is trying to reduce the risk of ignorance-based violations, and to clarify the disciplinary consequences of non-compliance.

This dual focus is strategically smart. When integrity rules are treated as a footnote, they can feel like legal boilerplate. When they are embedded in training and discussed openly, they are more likely to be understood as part of professional standards, not just threats of punishment.

Why prevention-first is the message and why it matters

EPIC CEO Paul Buck emphasised that the Irish rollout focuses on a prevention-first model. In practice, that means intervening before harm escalates, and doing so through education that is consistent across clubs and roles. In elite sport, prevention-first approaches can be difficult because the culture often values resilience and performance above vulnerability.

Positioning the League of Ireland Gambling Harm Education Programme as standard, scheduled, and league-wide is a way of lowering the stigma of the topic. When education is routine, it sends the message that understanding risk is part of being professional, not a sign that someone is already in trouble.

It also acknowledges that exposure is not limited to players who bet. Staff and officials operate in the same environment, and they can be affected by gambling harm in their own lives or be placed under pressure by others. A holistic scope makes it easier to spot issues early and to build shared language around boundaries.

What this means for iGaming and sports partnerships

Even with only the details in the announcement, a few implications are hard to miss. First, sports bodies are increasingly expecting structured education that can be measured in workshops delivered and people reached. Second, funding is not enough on its own, credibility is strengthened when delivery is handled by a specialist organisation like EPIC.

Third, the programme illustrates how operator involvement can be framed within integrity and welfare commitments, as Harrington noted that Flutter’s funding aligns with the company’s commitment to protecting the integrity of sports. For readers tracking sponsorship dynamics, this is an example of how the conversation is moving beyond logo placement and into demonstrable risk management.

Finally, the reference to the English Football League and Sky Bet collaboration highlights something else. Programmes that last and scale tend to become part of the institutional memory of a league, making them harder to roll back. If the League of Ireland programme follows a similar trajectory, it could become a long-term feature of how Irish football handles gambling-related risk.

Looking ahead for the League of Ireland rollout

With 70 workshops scheduled annually and coverage spanning senior squads, academy teams, women’s development teams, officials, and staff, the League of Ireland has set a high operational bar. The immediate test will be delivery consistency across clubs and how well the sessions translate from a workshop setting into everyday decision-making and team culture.

What is already clear is that the league is attempting to shift the baseline. Instead of treating gambling harm as an occasional headline issue, the League of Ireland is positioning education, welfare awareness, and integrity compliance as built-in responsibilities across the sport.

For the wider iGaming and sports betting sector, the message is straightforward. As gambling becomes more embedded in sports ecosystems, programmes like this will increasingly be seen not as optional extras, but as the minimum standard of care and governance that modern stakeholders expect.