From Concern to Calling: One Journalist’s Journey to Increase Awareness About Gambling Harm

Brian Pempus studied journalism at Penn State in the late 2000s when online poker was surging in popularity. He recalls one memorable night in the dorm when his friend went on a binge-drinking-fueled run of wild success playing poker.

“The online poker boom was raging back in the late 2000s,” Pempus said. “My friend was playing a Full Tilt Poker late-night tournament, one of those big, multi-table tournaments with hundreds or thousands of players. I forget exactly what the buy-in was, maybe a couple of hundred bucks for a satellite entry into it. He played a smaller tournament for less money to get into this bigger tournament.”

His friend’s epic run ultimately ended with $40,000 in winnings, or so Pempus thought before calling it a night.

“He ended up having a zero account balance by the next morning,” he said. “I didn’t witness the loss of this money, but he told myself and other people about what had happened. I was there when he won the money, but I wasn’t there when he lost it all.”

Fast forward to today, and Pempus is the founder and editor of GamblingHarm.org. The website’s mission is to raise awareness of gambling-related harm and consumer protection. As millions across the world struggle with gambling addiction, Pempus is doing what he can to educate people about the risks of betting.

Journalism Career Begins in Las Vegas

Pempus started his career on the front lines of gambling as a reporter for Card Player Magazine in Las Vegas. It didn’t take long to experience the highs and lows that permeate life in Sin City.

“I saw the good, the bad, and the ugly of gambling,” Pempus said. “I always found that readers wanted to see stories about the gut-wrenching moments. Not just the big wins, but also the gut-wrenching losses and the drama. I think that’s what made the World Series of Poker so popular on ESPN back in the day.

“You weren’t just seeing the wins, you were seeing like the agony of defeat, right? And the agony of defeat is (often) very much connected to problem gambling.”

Pempus spent more than 15 years in the online gambling industry, including stints with Better Collective, The Game Day, and Forbes, before launching GamblingHarm.org. The diverse experiences help lend a unique perspective to his reporting on the risks associated with gambling.

“The constant trickle of studies and anecdotal stories of high-profile cases of addiction or being taken advantage of by a VIP program at an operator gave me an awakening to this,” he said. “I realized that I needed to cover the industry from a different perspective.”

The Myth & Reality of Responsible Gambling Programs

Author Danny Funt recently told Casino Beats about a former PointsBet employee who said that she was the company’s Responsible Gambling department in his book “Everybody Loses.” It’s a disturbing vignette on several levels, prompting many to question the myth and reality of RG programs at commercial sportsbooks.

Does Pempus think operators typically take problem gambling seriously, or is it mostly just for PR purposes?

“It’s an amazing question, like the million-dollar question,” he said. “I think these companies are full of people who are well-intentioned and don’t mean any harm to anyone. But structurally, they’re incentivized not to be able to address it, and they use responsible gambling as more of a PR tool.”

Pempus added, “If you have a product where the bulk of the revenue is coming from a smaller minority of players, then you really can’t help but treat responsible gambling as more of a PR-type thing because the business model really relies on power users. It’s a hard business model to square with the responsible gaming model.”

On Chasing Losses, Self-Exclusion & Big Wins

UCLA Clinical Professor of Psychiatry Dr. Timothy Fong, who also serves as the co-director of the UCLA Gambling Studies Program, identifies chasing losses as a potential sign of gambling addiction.

“If you keep chasing your losses, and you can’t stop thinking about it, and you start to do things that go against your moral code, like borrowing money you don’t have, or stealing, you know, then that’s addiction,” Fong told CasinoBeats. “That’s not recreational.”

Pempus cited multiple surveys in saying that half of online sports bettors chase their losses. He’s quick to note that not everyone doing so is addicted to gambling.

“I really try to focus on this dynamic of chasing losses in my coverage of problem gambling,” he said. “It’s a very natural human tendency to want to recoup the money that you lost gambling, especially if you’re gambling for any amount of money that you care about. It doesn’t mean you have an addiction or a problem yet, it’s just something to be aware of.”

He added, “You don’t need to feel shame or beat up on yourself about it because it’s very common. It’s kind of normal, but it definitely is something to be aware of, and realize that if you’re someone who chases their losses, you need to be a little more careful.”

For those who do spiral into addiction, Pempus is a big believer in self-exclusion. When asked about the most effective responsible gambling tools available today, it was at the top of his list.

“It’s the most effective tool for preventing real catastrophe, signing up for a list maintained by the state to ban yourself from operators and gambling,” he said. “In my opinion, it’s the jewel of regulation compared to unregulated operators. Self-exclusion is underutilized, but it’s definitely a lifesaver for some people.”

Approaching the one-year anniversary of his new site, Pempus has provided a valuable perspective that has resonated with many different stakeholders.

“People reach out to me who have gambling problems, give me feedback on articles, and say that they really appreciate the coverage of a certain topic,” Pempus said. “It’s a vantage point that they’re not seeing much done elsewhere, so it’s really nice to hear from people that either are in recovery or still dealing with gambling addiction.

“I hear from regulators, too, who enjoy my coverage. People in the industry have even reached out to tell me they enjoy the critical coverage. It means a lot knowing that people are finding the perspective to be useful.”