FBM® is excited to announce the opening of its new office in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. The transition to FBM®’s dedicated building is a significant milestone for the Group operations in the US and a step forward in the brand’s journey to expand and strengthen its presence in the market.

As the diversification of FBM®’s slots gaming portfolio continues on casino floors, the brand achieves noteworthy accomplishments behind the scenes with the inauguration of a new office. The 22,000-square-foot facility, built from scratch by FBM® to meet the specific needs of a casino gaming company, provides an enhanced work environment and improved infrastructures, enabling the local team to deliver high-quality games and cabinets to American casinos.

Renato Almeida, Director at FBM®, shares his enthusiasm for this new step: “Completing this ambitious construction project and having our own facilities supplying the US operation is a landmark achievement that will forever be a part of FBM® Group’s history. This larger building demonstrates FBM®’s dedication to making a noticeable impact in the competitive casino industry, offering the ideal conditions for sustainable growth. With this expansion, we are well-positioned to grow our team and increase our capacity to provide top-quality games and cabinets to casino operators nationwide.”, completes Renato Almeida.

The transition from the previous workspace to the new office in Broken Arrow took place last week. This modern facility offers the perfect infrastructure to elevate the brand’s supply services for casino games and machines, keeping FBM®’s renowned excellence standards in its global operation.

Renato Almeida leveraged this opportunity to appreciate the hard work developed by the local team to accomplish this significant step.  “We extend our heartfelt gratitude to our local employees for their hard work and dedication during the construction of the new building. Your commitment has been instrumental in making this transition smooth and successful, and we look forward to achieving even greater milestones together.”, stated the FBM® representative.

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BetBlocker received the prestigious Jim Wuelfing Annual Award for Prevention at this year’s National Council on Problem Gambling Awards on Friday the 19^th of July, which was received by the charity’s Chief of Safer Gambling Partnerships, Pedro Romero.

The award, which was named after a famed trainer and advocate for the prevention of problem gambling in the United States, recognises people or organisations who have advocated for the inclusion of prevention strategies in the spectrum of problem gambling services, developed effective prevention programs and who have worked to help problem gambling prevention programs reached underserved and at-risk groups.

This award comes off of the back of years of work by the BetBlocker team to deliver an effect and free blocking software that can be used anonymously by anyone, anywhere in the world. As well as a traditional blocking software product, intended for use after a crisis, BetBlocker is the only blocking software to offer a Calendaring feature, allowing users to plan ahead and set the block to switch on during known periods of vulnerability.

Alongside these features, BetBlocker has translated its services into 6 non-English languages with many more to come, to help minority communities access support that would otherwise be unavailable to them.

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Founder of the charity, Duncan Garvie, had this to say about the award: “Recognition of BetBlocker’s work within the problem gambling space by the NCPG, one of the most influential voices within the sector, is amongst the highest possible accolades our organisation could receive.

I speak for the entire BetBlocker team when I say how deeply honoured we are to receive this award.”

Pedro Romero added the following: “It was incredibly humbling at the NCPG conference this year to speak to so many of the harm minimisation organisation in the USA that are already referring there service users to BetBlocker. Running an anonymous service and we don’t interact with our used frequently it’s easy to lose sight of just how many people are positively impacted by the support we offer.”

Stevin ‘Hedake’ Smith was at the center of one of the most high-profile examples of gambling-related harm in basketball history, which makes him the perfect latest addition to EPIC Global Solutions’ team as they continue to educate the current generation of professional and collegiate athletes on how to avoid the repeat of a similar scenario.

The former point guard made his name as a star player at Arizona State University in the early 1990s, setting college records for three-point attempts and being a two-time All-Pac-10 selection. However, his involvement in point-shaving – which was the subject of a 2021 Netflix documentary – led to a one-year prison sentence and impacted an NBA career with hometown team, Dallas Mavericks.

The source of his gambling harm – being approached by a gambler to change the final score of a game without changing who wins – is an issue that remains very pertinent to student-athletes 30 years on, in spite of the significant changes to sports wagering legislation.

This ensures that his planned involvement in EPIC’s range of education sessions to teams connected to partners such as the NCAA, MLB, and MLSPA will be an important lesson for the athletes, coaches, and staff in attendance when he travels to address them in his new role as US sports advisor for the company.

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“I’m passionate about wanting to tell my story and get out there to prevent this from happening again,” he explained.

“I’ve been able to tell my story to players previously and I’m able to have a relationship with all of them in the audience because of the way I deliver my message and coming from one big fraternity in sport. Knowing that EPIC has a global reach is something that really stood out to me about this opportunity and I’m passionate about getting out there and speaking about my experience.”

Though already a renowned name in sporting circles, Smith’s profile is set to rise again in the months ahead with the release of eponymous autobiography, ‘Hedake’, which will coincide with his work with EPIC.

“We’re proud to welcome Hedake to our team and can’t wait to see the impact he’ll have on audiences,” added Teresa Fiore, EPIC’s VP of partnerships.

“In being approached to shave points on game, Hedake has experienced a type of gambling-related harm which is different to many of our other team members. His story represents an area of increasing concern within sports, which adds to the range of our education designed to benefit our valued partners and the key people in their organisations.”

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