Haydn and Matthew are on the front line in schools, delivering powerful seminars to help young people understand and prevent gambling harm.

As Health Education teachers, they’re passionate about early intervention and equipping students with practical strategies - reflected in feedback showing 80% leave feeling better prepared to protect themselves.
“This is a powerful and much needed conversation. Education like this plays a vital role in helping young people be aware of the predatory nature of gambling. I’d also like to see meaningful reform in this area to reduce the burden placed on them.” said one supporter.

By also engaging parents and sharing their knowledge, their work is building a stronger, informed community ready to push back against harm.

Book a session or find out more.

Australia’s new gambling reforms are a step forward—but they don’t go far enough to stop lives being ruined.

Mark Kempster, Alliance Voices Advocate, writes: “I was a nervous wreck the morning I gave my evidence… I was shaking the whole time I gave my evidence — recounting how many times gambling companies had targeted me with inducements and advertising, even as I was trying to self-exclude every month.”

Despite giving evidence and hoping for meaningful reform, these partial measures ignore the key recommendations of Peta Murphy’s inquiry. Gambling ads will still appear frequently, inducements remain unchecked, and there is no national regulator—leaving Australians exposed to harm and vulnerable to addiction.

The peak body for the gambling industry, Responsible Wagering Australia, is already moving to meet with Coalition and Crossbench politicians—no doubt to push to water down Labor’s proposed gambling reforms (as stated in their media release on 2 April 2026).

This is how it works. As soon as reform is on the table, the industry moves fast to protect its profits.

They represent some of the biggest betting companies in the country: bet365, Betfair, PointsBet, Sportsbet, Picklebet, CrownBet and Unibet—companies with deep pockets and a lot to lose.

And here’s the reality: the reforms already don’t go far enough to protect children and reduce gambling harm.

If the gambling industry succeeds in watering them down further, the harm will only continue.

In this Guardian opinion piece, David Pocock argues Labor’s gambling reform response “falls tragically short” — warning it won’t reverse the normalisation of gambling, particularly among young people.

With Australia facing the highest per capita gambling losses in the world, Pocock says partial restrictions ignore the evidence: without a full ban on advertising, harm will continue.

He urges the public to write to their local MPs and the Prime Minister — to demand stronger, evidence-based reform.

In 2023, the Australian government received a detailed plan to reduce gambling harm. 1,000 days later, not one recommendation has been acted on.

Australians are speaking up.

From protecting kids from gambling ads, to families impacted by gambling harm, to the simple belief that things should be better - the reasons for reform are everywhere.

Visit our website to read what some people are saying and to add your reason.

Join #1000days1000reasons.

Anglicare Tasmania is hosting free community events in Hobart, Devonport, and Launceston this April, exploring the impact of online gambling on young Tasmanians.

Alliance Voices Advocate, Mark Kempster, will share his personal story: he placed his first bet at 15, drawn in by a culture where betting felt normal within the sport he loved. By his early 30s, gambling had cost him $100,000 and nearly his relationship with his family. Today, he speaks openly about how gambling reshaped his personality, the moment everything collapsed, and the steps he took to rebuild his life.

Mark will be in conversation with radio host Andy ‘Tubes’ Taylor, offering insight into how online gambling first takes hold during the teenage years, why it can feel normal in sport and youth culture, the hidden impacts on mental health and relationships, and practical ways families and communities can prevent harm and support young people early.

A billion-dollar online keno market is slipping through regulatory cracks, allowing Australians to gamble up to $20,000 an hour using credit cards. Nearly 1,000 days after the Murphy inquiry, reform delays are leaving people exposed while advertising and access expand unchecked.

The report warns: “The ban does not capture keno-type lotteries, which, alongside other lottery services, are not included in the definition of ‘wagering services’ (betting on racing and sports) under the IGA”.

This loophole is accelerating gambling harm while governments stall. Strong national action is urgently needed.

As the AFL and NRL seasons kick off, Australians are once again facing a flood of gambling advertising across TV, social media and stadiums. 📺📱🏟️

The Alliance CEO Martin Thomas warns the saturation is harming young people and normalising gambling for kids.

“I think we are being slowly cooked alive by gambling ads,” Martin Thomas told the Community Advocate.

Research shows hundreds of thousands of teenagers are already gambling each year, with online platforms targeting young audiences and making it harder to walk away.

Australians overwhelmingly support stronger restrictions. It’s time for action.

Despite overseeing 52 online gambling companies, the regulator has no full-time staff and has faced allegations of conflicts of interest and delayed complaint handling.

The Alliance warns the reform falls short, stating: "the … bill reads not as a serious reform agenda, but as a damage-control exercise - introduced after national scrutiny exposed a regulator that is part-time, under-resourced and structurally unsuited to the role it performs."

Stronger, independent oversight is urgently needed to reduce gambling harm.

Australia’s recently announced gambling ad reforms are a step forward - but they don’t go far enough to prevent gambling harm.

On BBC World News, The Alliance CEO Martin Thomas made the case clearly: "There shouldn't really be any advertised gambling advertising on television or online. The parliamentary inquiry which looked at this almost three years ago, suggested a full ad ban in the same way that cigarette advertising is banned. It's a legal product like gambling, but we should do everything we can to protect kids and to limit its marketing. And that's the case here. I mean, no one's suggesting in Australia that we should have three cigarette ads every hour, so we shouldn't have three gambling ads every hour."

Despite new limits, gambling ads will still appear frequently - continuing to expose children and normalise harm.

The Alliance for Gambling Reform says the proposed system shifts responsibility onto families, instead of the gambling companies and platforms profiting from these ads.

As Tim Costello puts it: “Not a single parent would opt in to their kids seeing gambling ads.”

Alliance Voices Advocate Mark Kempster has spoken out again, highlighting the catastrophic impact gambling advertising is having on young Australians and calling out the government’s failure to act.

It has now been 1,000 days since the Murphy Report outlined 31 recommendations to reduce gambling harm, yet no meaningful reform has been delivered.

Families and communities continue to pay the price. What's your reason? Share with us today.

New NSW research reveals a concerning link between gambling machines and family and domestic violence. As machine numbers increase, so do reported incidents - with evidence suggesting this relationship is causal.

Hotspots include parts of Sydney and northern NSW, while service providers warn support systems are not equipped to handle the overlap between gambling harm and violence.

Integrated services, better training, and stronger policy responses are urgently needed to protect families.

The Alliance for Gambling Reform is urging Australian cricket not to significantly boost its wagering product fees, as the major football codes have, warning it will have devastating impacts on children. The chief advocate of the Alliance, Tim Costello, said it was deeply disturbing that cricket was considering dramatically boosting its links to big gambling.

The warning follows media reports that Cricket Australia is considering options, such as boosting its wagering revenue, to help fund its revenue shortfall.

SMH also wrote on the topic: https://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/sell-off-the-bbl-or-sell-out-to-sports-betting-cricket-s-huge-call-20260318-p5p01x.html

Australians lose $31 billion to gambling every year. But behind the numbers are families like Terry’s.

Introduced to gambling as a child, Terry’s early win sparked decades of gambling harm that cost him his studies, stability and home. After a frightening wake-up call, he chose recovery. Today, 37 years on, he’s a proud father, grandfather and advocate with The Alliance.

"Gambling is a lose-lose situation," he says. "My past will never be my son's or grandson's future."

His message is urgent: "Please don't wait until it is too late. Let every one of us start a conversation on the road to saving many more lives."

New polling shows overwhelming for curbing gambling, alcohol and unhealthy food advertising. More than 130 organisations are calling on the Federal Government to introduce a Harmful Products Marketing Act to protect children from relentless exposure.

Alliance CEO Martin Thomas warns:
“Gambling losses in Australia, which are the world’s highest per capita, not only have a financial impact but unleash immense social harm each day across our communities.”

It is time to put community wellbeing before industry profits and give Australians a real ad break. Help us keep pushing for reform.