Daniel Umfleet: Problem Gambling and Public Health

The latest episode of Martin Lycka’s Safe Bet Show features Daniel Umfleet, founder and CEO of Kindbridge, online therapy, coaching and mental health resource. Daniel also served COO of GamBan, and has a litany of experience in a variety of fields. 

Martin and Daniel discuss Daniel’s background, education and work history, as well as his experiences as an American living in the UK, how he’s adjusted to not having Walmart, and his opinions on safer gambling from a public health and public policy perspective.

00:07 - Intro 

00:58 - Daniel's background, educational history, Daniel's studying and how it ties in. Learning about different cultures, how policy and legislation plays a role, learning about businesses, business culture, how businesses work and how to make things work inside businesses. 

04:30 - what studies are coming in the future? Daniel wants to focus on population health/health system. Interested in care delivery, how to manage large populations successfully. 

05:40 - Daniel's history living in several different countries, working in the oil and gas industry, what was Daniel's focus? And what skills did he pick up along the way? Getting to work with 4 major oil and gas companies around the world (Malaysia, Philippines, Australia, US), what he learned from that industry, developing his understanding of management and leadership. Working in healthcare in parallel, being humbled by it. Biggest takeaway from consulting was the similarities between practices across industries.

10:25 - Regulating gambling, Daniel's perspective on it from a public health perspective. Importance of architecture around how care is delivered with unfamiliar products such as this. Suicide spiking in the US, despite going down across the globe. Identifying problem gambling as a mental health issue early. Recognising that gamblers with problems have a high suicide rate, and working out how to tackle that. Education and prevention are key. 

15:25 - Daniel being an American in Britain, living in the south of England. What challenges does he have to negotiate on a day to day basis? Daniel having lived in Australia, the US. Struggles to find a good deli, misses New York Delis. Adjusting to less variety in the grocery stores in the UK, and smaller roads compared to America. Likes the UK lifestyle, especially having access to the NHS. Daniel on medical insurance costs in the UK. 

21:20 - Martin's experiences living in the UK.

22:00 - GamBan, Daniel's chance meeting GamBan founder Jack Symons in his wife's coffee shop, who Gamban are, how Daniel helped with building the framework and pushing their product. Objective was to build the best gambling blocking software on the market.
 

25:20 - Daniel's opinions on the Super Bowl, and his wildcard Super Bowl pick.

27:27 - Daniel's overall message, what responsible gambling is to him, importance of looking at the right types of infrastructure