Randy Livingston
Responsible Gaming Ambassador, Professional Basketball Coach, former NBA Player, LivOn Basketball
Randy Livingaton is a Responsible Gambling Ambassador and lived-experience advocate whose work brings the human reality of gambling harm into industry, regulatory, and policy discussions. After navigating his own journey through gambling addiction during his life as a professional basketball player in the NBA to long-term recovery, Randy now dedicates himself to improving understanding, reducing stigma, and strengthening the conditions that support safer gambling and personal resilience.
Randy’s lived experience offers rare insight into the emotional, behavioural, and cognitive patterns that shape gambling harm. He speaks in a candid and highly self-aware manner about the factors that fuel vulnerability — including shame, secrecy, isolation, and the internal narratives that keep people from seeking help — as well as the crucial turning points that enabled him to rebuild his life. His story provides a grounded counterpoint to theoretical models, highlighting what interventions feel like from the inside and how industry practices are perceived by real people during periods of harm.
As a responsible gaming ambassador for FanDuel, Randy contributes to public awareness campaigns like the Trusted Voices: Conversations About Betting platform, community events, and harm-prevention initiatives. His work emphasises the importance of early, non-judgmental communication; the value of empowering families and supporters; and the need for environments that reduce stigma and encourage honest conversations.
Randy has a special focus on youth advocacy and education and has spoken at universities, youth conferences and to rookies entering professional sports leagues about gambling harm prevention. His presentations are known for their openness, emotional clarity, and ability to translate personal experience into actionable insights for operators, regulators, and practitioners.
Through his advocacy, Randy seeks to ensure that lived experience becomes a foundational part of safer gambling discourse — helping industry and regulators design systems that are both effective and deeply human.
