Problem Gambling Nonprofit Names Consultant Charles Jeffers Interim Director After Prediction-Market Membership Dispute

The National Council on Problem Gambling has put an interim executive director in charge after its previous leader resigned in September amid backlash over a membership category for prediction markets. The organisation named Charles H. Jeffers II on Monday, 26 October, according to Casino.org and a CDC Gaming headline on the same appointment.

Jeffers is the founder of The Jeffers Group, an organisational consulting firm that works on governance, leadership and strategy. The NCPG says he brings more than 30 years of nonprofit leadership and consulting experience. His listed roles include interim executive director of the American Occupational Therapy Association and chief executive of the Bermuda Tourism Authority. The reporting does not describe any earlier role in gambling policy or problem-gambling treatment.

The dispute began with the Financial Services & Trading membership category, which the NCPG created in exchange for a $2 million grant. The reporting does not say who provided that grant. The Michigan Gaming Control Board, the Ohio Casino Control Commission and the Nevada Council on Problem Gambling have all rescinded their NCPG memberships, saying they would not align with platforms they believe engage in illegal sports betting. Those three bodies are the clearest documented exits, so readers should not assume the wider membership has fallen by a similar amount.

The NCPG defends the framework as a way to "prevent and reduce gambling-related harm wherever it occurs". It also says sports event trading on prediction markets is "functionally gambling" and can expose consumers to the same risks as sports betting. That position sits awkwardly beside the organisation's stated policy of neither supporting nor opposing gambling, and the appointment does not resolve that tension.

The interim period is therefore a test of governance rather than a verdict on the category. The board chose a turnaround-style consultant, and a search firm, Vetted Solutions of Washington, DC, will help find a permanent director. Whether the permanent hire has the expertise to handle prediction-market harm, and whether the board reconsiders the membership structure, remain open. Member bodies that left and the consumer-protection groups that rely on the NCPG's credibility will be watching both decisions.