Preventing Harm from Gambling

In July 2019 the VLGA received a 2-year grant from the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation to deliver the Councillor Champions, Civic Communities Program.

Councillor Champions builds councillor knowledge and skills in developing and implementing actions to reduce harm from gambling. Councillors can have a significant influence on each other, on their councils and on their communities, and councils tend to follow the example of other councils who take the lead in a wide range of areas. Councillor Champions will encourage councillors to initiate and implement actions to raise awareness of, or reduce harm from, gambling. Local government has influence and levers that extend widely across the community and different modes of gambling; from their planning role to work in supporting sporting clubs and associations, and beyond to the ways in which they build community resilience and deliver social, leisure and recreational activities that can provide alternatives to gambling.

Civic Communities is aligned with an important principle of VLGA work – promoting civic participation and enabling citizens to create their own sustainable futures. Civic Communities builds social connectedness and community resilience with a key focus on assisting communities to build knowledge and skills to participate in licensing and planning processes relevant to Electronic Gaming Machine (EGM) placement. The aim of this component is to ensure that the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation does not make any decision about EGM licensing without having access to community perspectives.

We also hold the Local Government Working Group on Gambling (LGWGOG) bi-monthly, to find out more click here.

Contacts:

Susan Rennie on susan@vlga.org.au or 0425 706 978; or Rose O'Leary rose@vlga.org.au or (03) 9349 7999.