In July 2023, the Victorian Government announced new “landmark reforms” to reduce gambling harm from poker machines in Victoria. Little detail was released alongside the announcement and this detail is still lacking nearly a year later, despite consultation on the reforms in September 2023. With poker machines losses in Victoria continuing to grow and reaching ...
Alliance for Gambling Reform
Addressing Gambling Harm from Poker Machines

GOAL
$20,000
Field of Interest
- Civic engagement and leadership
- Health/wellbeing and medical research
Target Population
- General population
- People experiencing socio-economic disadvantage or vulnerability

The Alliance is the only national peak body working to reduce gambling harm. We have over 60 supporting organisations in our network and 23 leadership local councils in Victoria who have an interest in reducing the exponential level of gambling harm in Australia.
We are a registered health promotion charity and we have long advocated for public health reforms that are evidence-based and community-backed with the sole purpose of reducing and preventing gambling harm in Australia.
The Alliance supports public policy and regulatory regimes that prevent and minimise gambling harm. Our positions are evidence-based and are developed in consultation with people who have been harmed by gambling, based on the principle that those closest to the harm are closest to the solutions. We work with the Victorian Government, via departments, the Minister and the regulator to keep gambling reform on the agenda and we are regularly sought out to provide input into gambling issues in the state.
We are the only organisation focused solely on the issue of gambling reform and have in-depth and detailed knowledge regarding the legislative and political context as well as the evidence and research supporting gambling reform measures.
Project Summary
In July 2023, the Victorian Government announced new “landmark reforms” to reduce gambling harm from poker machines in Victoria. Little detail was released alongside the announcement and this detail is still lacking nearly a year later, despite consultation on the reforms in September 2023. With poker machines losses in Victoria continuing to grow and reaching over $3 billion for the first time in 2022/23, the details of the reforms are of crucial importance to ensure they reduce gambling harm as opposed to potentially increase it.
It has not been confirmed if the reforms will include features that have been proven across many trials to reduce harm from gambling, such as maximum daily limits. Details such as these are critical to whether these reforms are both truly landmark and representative of those features which have been proven in countless trials to have positive impacts on reducing gambling harm.
While younger people are certainly at risk from harms from online gambling,
and this is another area of concern, there is no evidence to suggest that younger Victorians are not using poker machines at a level that would continue to keep the industry thriving for the foreseeable future. Therefore, we must continue to pursue reforms that protect Victorians into the future.
The Alliance for Gambling Reform would like to engage the Victorian
community, community organisations and local government in a campaign to:
- Build community awareness by briefly informing them on the key issues:
a. The Government’s announcement for “landmark reforms”
b. The type of reforms that are known to reduce harm
c. Information regarding harms and losses to Victorians
d. What needs to happen and when - Encourage the Victorian community and organisations to take action
through:
a. Using an adjustable template to write to state government MPs
and inform them of their concern and the action they are
expecting from the Government
b. Sharing our campaign and posting on social media using unique
hashtags and tagging MPs
c. Signing our online petition - Meet with MPs to further discuss the issues raised during the campaign
and how they can respond to community concerns.
We believe that this work needs to be planned and executed over the coming months, as our understanding is there is likely to be legislation to enact reforms coming to the Victorian Parliament as early as September this year. It is critical that we ensure the Government knows the community will hold it to account for anything less than what was promised – landmark reforms.
We will specifically seek to engage organisations that address community health, material aid, social equality, financial counselling and we will be engaging directly with our Victorian supporters, as well as trying to engage new members of the community through media and social media to support gambling reform and in particular, the “landmark reforms” campaign.
We believe augmenting our current approach of engaging directly with Government alongside this campaign which puts the spotlight on the non-negotiable policy outcomes required to reduce harm will improve the likelihood that the Government will undertake evidence-based reforms to reduce harm from poker machines.
Project Outcomes
Research shows that almost one in five (around 550,000) Victorians who gamble may be experiencing harm from gambling, costing Victoria around $7 billion annually and causing significant financial distress and mental health issues that can lead to bankruptcy, homelessness, family violence, relationship breakdowns and suicide.
We know that up to six others can be impacted by one person's gambling, including family, friends and employers. Electronic Gaming Machines (EGMs, otherwise known as poker machines or “pokies”) have evolved rapidly over recent years, and are designed through sophisticated psychological techniques, to maximise both the amount of time users spend on the machine, and the revenue gained from the player through losses. Today’s digital EGMs far exceed the revenue performance of the older, mechanical poker machines, and they also have far greater addictive potential.
Announcements in July 2023 by then Premier Daniel Andrews committed to mandatory pre-commitment limits and carded play, but he said this would be subject to consultation with industry. Missing from this announcement was information such as:
- Whether this would be a physical or digital card
- If the card itself would be mandatory to play or just the pre-commitment
- What level those pre-commitments limits could be set at
- If there would be default limits
- Whether the pre-commitment limits set would be binding
- For what length of time pre-commitment limits would be binding
- If the card could be connected to rewards schemes
- How and if the card would be linked to services for support
- Whether data from the card would be accessible to researchers or just
Government and venues
Our campaign will talk address the reforms needed to respond to those
questions using best practice.
Budget Breakdown
TOTAL BUDGET: $116,000
FUNDING
Funding source | Amount |
---|---|
Other funding sources (confirmed) | $86,000 |
Funding gap (unconfirmed) | $30,000 |
EXPENSES
Expense item | Amount |
---|---|
Policy & Advocacy Staff | $30,000 |
Communications staff | $30,000 |
Social media staff | $20,000 |
CEO & Chief Advocate (15% of full time) | $30,000 |
Administration costs | $6,000 |
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