Hume City Council has furthered gambling harm minimisation efforts, hosting experts and advocates at a local government sector first Gambling Harm Symposium held in Craigieburn on Monday 2 October 2023.
The event sent a strong message to policy makers on Hume’s advocacy for change as we heard from Dr. Charles Livingstone on gambling harm, journalist Stephanie Convery on sports gambling impacts, humanitarian Tim Costello and others from across the fields of education, sports and entertainment about the wide-reaching impacts of gambling.
The successful symposium comes as Minister for Casino, Gaming and Liquor Regulation Melissa Horne today introduced, under the new Allan Labor Government, the Gambling Legislation Amendment Bill 2023 to Parliament.
The move will enforce mandatory closure periods for all gaming machine areas in venues except Crown Casino between 4am and 10am every day from mid 2024, reducing gambling harm by giving people the chance to break from the dangers of endless play.
It is the first major step taken by the State Government since its introduction of sweeping gambling reforms, announced in July 2023 by the then Andrews Labor Government.
The timing of Council’s Gambling Harm Symposium is demonstrative of the significant changes occurring in the gambling space at both a local and state level – and highlights just how far we have to go.
Hume City residents lost more than $139 million to Electronic Gambling Machines in 2022/23 – our highest recorded loss to date.
Council looks forward to the implementation of the next tranche of reforms that will ensure all EGMs in Victoria require mandatory pre-commitment limits and carded play, load-up limits, and slowing of machine spin rates.
We will continue to advocate to the State Government for strong reforms that help minimise gambling harm across Hume City. Because ultimately no win is worth it.
Quotes attributable to Cr Joseph Haweil:
“What concerns me greatly as Mayor, is knowing that Hume’s diversity and socio-economic status make our residents vulnerable to methods used to lure people into gambling.”
“Hume City Council has been in regular contact with the State Government advocating for immediate State mandated regulation of the gambling industry, which helped bring about July’s sweeping reforms, but our fight began long before that and we have a long way to go.
“Our recent submission to the state government has made it clear we will continue to push for all proposed reforms to be implemented including mandatory carded play, pre-commitment, a self-exclusion program, and load-up limits.”
