In our submission to the Victorian Government’s Inquiry into the Victorian Auditor-General’s reports no. 99: Follow up of Regulating Gambling and Liquor (2019) and no. 213: Reducing the Harm Caused by Gambling (2021), No to Violence (NTV) explored the progress that has been made towards addressing the link between gambling and family violence.
Our submission to the Inquiry looked at the progress that has been made implementing recommendations from the Auditor-General in 2021 for the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation (VRGF).
Our recommendations discuss the clear link between gambling harm and family violence and highlight that there’s not enough work or research being done to help people navigate this harmful intersection.
NTV points out that services often overlook these issues when they occur in conjunction with each other, as these services remain separate; this leads to less effective responses and added stress for families navigating a fragmented system.
Fundamentally, we want to improve how people understand and deal with the combination of gambling harm and family violence. Our submission has offered the government three main points of feedback:
- Gathering more information about how gambling harm and family violence are connected.
- Exploring ways to end both gambling harm and family violence through addressing community attitudes.
- Developing tailored responses for
NTV worked closely with our Victorian members to develop this submission, including with organisations offering family violence and gambling services, and those who have integrated gambling harm components into men’s behaviour change programs.
We strongly believe there are opportunities for collaboration between the Victorian Government and NTV to improve the coordination of efforts to address gambling harm and family violence.
This could involve building evidence about the connection between gambling harm and family violence, creating prevention strategies that address social and cultural norms contributing to both issues, and developing treatment approaches that consider both problem gambling and family violence.
We hope the Victorian Government will seriously consider the insights shared in the submission. Our submission calls for greater integration between interventions for gambling and family violence, and we look forward to collaborating with the government to better support our members and enhance the synergy between gambling harm and family violence interventions.
