Media releases

To mark the beginning of Gambling Harm Awareness Week (16–22 October 2023), Victorians are being encouraged to reach out and offer help and hope to those in our community who may be struggling with a gambling issue.

A multi-code event in Point Cook marked the beginning of 2023's Love the Game month, with emerging Hawthorn star Mitch Lewis; Melbourne Rebels’ players Ray Nu'u, Max Johnson and Michaela Maunsell; Melbourne United’s Shea Ili; North Melbourne AFLW players Jenna Bruton and Jasmine Garner; and juniors from the Point Cook Bulldogs.

There needs to be more recognition of the harmful nature of many gambling products, especially pokies, sports betting, and casino table games.

The Foundation has piloted an innovative new program in Ballarat, which equips allied health professions with a new way of screening patients to determine the best treatments to get them back on track. It will increase access to, and training for, practitioners who operate within the mental health, alcohol and other drugs sectors and are treating people vulnerable to gambling harm.

Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation Chair Tass Mousaferiadis today welcomed the Victorian Government’s appointment of Alison Roberts and Lee Crockford to the Foundation’s board.

Gambling Harm Awareness Week (18–24 October 2021) is the ideal time to start a conversation with family, friends, neighbours and others about the negative effects of gambling, share ideas to prevent gambling harm, and find ways to support people who experience harm as a result of their own or someone else’s gambling. A new series of videos created by the Foundation, with the expertise of University of Melbourne neuroscientist Dr Jared Cooney Horvath, explain how gambling affects the way the brain functions and, importantly, how an addiction can be reversed.

The Victorian Government is continuing to support people at risk of gambling harm, investing in a localised support project across the Latrobe Valley. Reclink Australia has been selected to deliver the $600,000 Latrobe Valley Gambling Harm Prevention Project, which will deliver community sports, arts and recreation programs to people at risk of gambling harm, including those who may be experiencing social isolation and poor mental health.

Cricket Victoria has demonstrated its support for the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation’s new Join the club campaign, today renewing its commitment to reducing kids’ exposure to sports betting promotions through a one-year extension to its Love the Game partnership.

The Victorian Government is prioritising the needs of young First Nations people, launching Australia’s first youth specific First Nations Gambling Awareness program on Wadawurrung Country. Aboriginal-owned organisation Strong Brother Strong Sister has been selected to deliver the Djilang Gambling Awareness Program, which will provide support to young people affected by their own or their family’s gambling activities. The program will receive $250,000 over 15 months to help young Wadawurrung people pursue self-determination through social, emotional, and health and wellbeing measures, with a key focus on minimising gambling harm.

Major sporting clubs and local sporting leaders have united in response to community concern about the effect of prolific sports betting advertising on young people in the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation’s new Love the Game campaign.

The Andrews Labor Government is investing in new research to examine the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the gambling environment and the implications for associated behaviours and harm....

More Victorians are being supported to address gambling harm, with an additional $660,000 for migrant and refugee communities, and community sporting clubs. Minister for Gaming and Liquor Regulation Melissa Horne today announced extra funding for two Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation programs during Gambling Harm Awareness Week (19–25 October).

Gambling Harm Awareness Week (19–25 October), which this year coincides with AFL Grand Final week, was today launched at a virtual event highlighting the risks sports betting can pose to young men, including footy players.

Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation Chair Tass Mousaferiadis today welcomed the Victorian Government’s appointment of Alison Roberts and Lee Crockford to the Foundation’s board.

Tass Mousaferiadis has been appointed the new chair and board member Monique Conheady has been appointed deputy chair of the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation board. Mr Mousaferiadis succeeds the outgoing chair, Julie Ligeti, who has served in the role since 2016, championing the public health approach to gambling harm adopted by the Foundation. Ms Conheady’s appointment coincides with the resignation of Belinda Duarte, a Wotjobaluk and Dja Dja Wurrung descendent. The Foundation thanks Ms Legeti and Ms Duarte for their leadership and service.

The Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation acknowledged the Geelong Cats’ announcement that the club has finalised arrangements to exit the last of its gaming venues early next year.

The Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation has welcomed the news today that Western Bulldogs FC has finalised arrangements to divest itself of any interest in pokies. An early...

Thirty-two per cent of Victorian residents who experience side effects such as stress from gambling speak a language other than English at home. Compelled by this research and a 2018 survey finding that 48 per cent of Victorians are not aware that gambling can lead to negative emotional side effects, the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation has translated the Think… is that true for you? campaign into a range of languages: Arabic, Cantonese, Greek, Italian, Mandarin, Spanish and Vietnamese.

New research into the prevalence of gambling among adolescents estimates that 25,600 students in Victoria aged 12–17 years may be spending $2.9 million on gambling each year, despite being under the age at which Australians can legally gamble. Released to coincide with Gambling Harm Awareness Week (7–13 October), the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation-funded research found 31 per cent of kids in the study had gambled at some point in the past – and six per cent had gambled in the previous 30 days.

The Andrews Labor Government is preventing gambling harm across Victoria through state-wide grants for 14 community-based, not-for-profit organisations. Minister for Gaming and Liquor Regulation Marlene Kairouz today attended a Gambling Harm Awareness Week workshop in Bendigo and announced $2 million in grant funding.