National summit · 2027
Gambling doesn't cause family violence. It makes it worse.
A national summit from reform to practice: pokies, online betting, economic abuse and community safety.
When
8–11 June 2027
Where
Melbourne (Naarm) and live online
Format
2 conference days + 2 workshops
First In pricing ends in
1 in 7
Australian adults experienced harm from gambling in 2024: an estimated 3.1 million people.
19%
of people whose partner gambles weekly or more experienced intimate partner violence, compared with 7% whose partner does not gamble.
2027
New federal rules on wagering ads, inducements and illegal operators took effect on 1 January, with state reforms under way.
Source: Australian Gambling Research Centre, Australian Institute of Family Studies. National Gambling Prevalence Study Pilot 2024: Key findings (2025).
Welcome
Australians lose more on gambling per person than anyone else in the world: on pokies in local pubs and clubs, at casinos, on racing and in a fast-growing online betting market. Behind those losses are households where money disappears, debts mount and control tightens. The evidence is now clear: gambling harm is strongly associated with family and domestic violence. It intensifies abuse, above all through economic abuse and coercive control.
2027 is a turning point. From 1 January, new federal rules restrict wagering ads around live sport, ban celebrity endorsements and give ACMA real penalties. NSW is rolling out a statewide pokies exclusion register. Victoria is reshaping pokies and casino regulation and how gambling harm is prevented. Banks are blocking illegal operators. Yet the services that see the harm, from family violence workers and financial counsellors to police, councils and gambling help, rarely sit in the same room.
The Leading Gambling Reform & Family Violence Prevention Summit brings them together from every state and territory: in Melbourne in 2027 and Sydney in 2028. Over two days, plus two hands-on workshops, leaders from community services, government, police, justice, regulators, financial services and sport will share what works.
Built with care
Lived-experience voices help shape the program. Sessions carry content notes, a quiet room and an on-site counsellor are available throughout, and the summit accepts no gambling-industry sponsorship.
Why attend
Leaders, managers and senior practitioners from:
The summit experience
Delegates at Leadership Institute summits, Melbourne 2026.
01
Practitioners, regulators, police, councils, banks and researchers on what they changed, what it cost and what they would do differently.
02
An hour each day with your questions put to the people facing what you face. Ask from the floor or online.
03
Voices of lived experience help shape the program and speak on stage, with care built around every session.
04
Family violence, financial counselling, gambling help, police, councils and regulators side by side. Networking drinks close Day One.
05
Two hands-on days with real scenarios and local data. You leave with tools and a plan, not just notes.
06
Both conference days are streamed live, with questions online and recordings for every delegate.
Your four days
On Wurundjeri and Bunurong Country, and live online. Join both conference days, then add one or both hands-on workshops in person.
8
Tuesday · June
Pre-conference workshop
Screening for gambling harm and economic abuse
9
Wednesday · June
Conference Day One
The evidence and the frontline
10
Thursday · June
Conference Day Two
Reform, regulation and community safety
11
Friday · June
Post-conference workshop
Local gambling harm prevention planning
Program
Delegates at a Leadership Institute summit, Melbourne 2026Pre-conference workshop · Tuesday 8 June · 9:00am–4:00pm
Gambling harm is one of the most under-asked questions in family violence practice. Clients rarely raise it, and workers often don't know how to ask. Yet it can sit behind drained accounts, mounting debt and escalating control. This hands-on workshop gives practitioners and team leaders the tools to ask safely, recognise what they hear and respond well.
You'll practise brief gambling screens alongside family violence risk frameworks such as MARAM. You'll learn to read the financial signs of gambling-linked economic abuse and work through real cross-sector scenarios. You'll leave with referral pathways you can use the next day.
Ideal for
Family violence practitioners and team leaders, financial counsellors, Gambler's Help clinicians, child protection workers, police family violence units and legal services.
Day One sets out what the evidence says and how gambling harm shows up in family violence, money and services. Seven sessions, with the panel after lunch.
Opening keynote
Research now shows a strong association between gambling harm and family violence: people experiencing problem gambling face two to four times the odds of intimate partner violence, as both victims and perpetrators. But gambling doesn't cause violence. It intensifies it. This keynote sets out the national evidence across pokies, casinos, racing and online betting: who is harmed, how, and what that means for every service in the room.
Session 2
Where there are more poker machines, police record more family violence. Victorian research found postcodes without pokies had around 20% fewer family violence incidents, and new national work links pokies density to financial abuse and coercive control. This session shows what local data on venues, losses and police call-outs tells councils, police and planners, and how to use it.
Session 3
For many victim-survivors, the harm from a partner's gambling is economic: savings gone, debts in their name, money controlled or withheld. Research with victim-survivors found economic abuse alongside gambling was close to universal and often severe. This session unpacks how gambling and coercive control feed each other, and what services, banks and courts can do to protect and restore financial safety.
Session 4
In a conversation co-designed with lived-experience advocates, a victim-survivor and a person in recovery from gambling harm share what services missed, which moments mattered and what genuinely helped. Expect honest reflections and practical lessons for anyone designing or delivering a response. Content note: this session discusses experiences of family violence and gambling harm.
Panel discussion
Banks are now on the front line. Credit cards can no longer be used for online wagering, payment providers must block illegal operators, and industry guidelines set expectations on financial abuse. This panel brings banks, financial counsellors, legal services and the complaints authority together to discuss spotting gambling-linked financial abuse, responding to hardship, and working with family violence services.
Session 6
Most systems never ask about gambling, so they never hear about it. This session explores what a shared approach could look like: brief screening questions built into family violence risk assessment, police attendance and child protection practice, with clear pathways when gambling harm is identified. It draws on Victoria's family violence reform experience and its lessons for other states.
Session 7
Gambling harm and family violence affect First Nations communities in distinct ways, shaped by history, community and culture. This session centres First Nations-led organisations and the community-controlled, culturally safe responses they are building, and asks what mainstream services, regulators and governments need to do differently.
Day Two turns to the 2027 reforms across pokies, the casino, online wagering and sport, and to local prevention. Seven sessions, with the panel mid-morning.
Keynote
From 1 January 2027, Australia's gambling rules changed. Wagering ads are banned around live sport, celebrity and athlete endorsements are out, inducements are limited and illegal offshore operators face blocking. Penalties now run into the millions. Five months in, this keynote sets out what the reforms require, how enforcement is working, and what organisations beyond the gambling industry need to know.
Session 2
Venue staff are often the first to see signs of gambling harm, and sometimes of abuse. Research with victim-survivors found venues missed clear red flags. As Victoria reshapes pokies and casino regulation, this session explores carded play, pre-commitment and duty of care, and what it would take for venues to recognise and respond when gambling and family violence intersect.
Panel discussion
Online betting is one of the fastest-growing forms of gambling, and young men are heavily targeted. This panel examines betting on phones, the new limits on sport-related advertising, sponsorship in football and racing, and why racing was left out of the ad ban. It also looks at big-game nights, when alcohol, betting and emotion combine, and what codes, clubs, services and regulators can do.
Session 4
NSW's $95.2 million reform package introduces a statewide exclusion register, mandatory facial recognition in venues, a ban on VIP gaming rooms and more funding for harm prevention, with family violence experts consulted along the way. This session shares what is being implemented, what is working and what other states can take from it.
Session 5
Councils decide where pokies go, run Gambling Harm Awareness Week and lead community safety. Police see the violence that follows. This session shows how councils, police and local services can join up: using pokies and police data, objecting to new machines, working with venues, and planning for high-risk times such as AFL finals and the Spring Racing Carnival.
Session 6
Most people who gamble are not violent, and gambling does not cause violence. But where the two meet, services need to engage men without stigma while keeping victim-survivors at the centre. This session explores the gendered drivers of violence, working with men who gamble and use violence, and what men's behaviour change and gambling services can learn from each other.
Closing keynote
Australia now has the most significant gambling reforms in a generation, but gambling still has no national regulator, and calls to address gambling in family violence prevention remain largely unmet. This closing keynote asks what comes next: what is working, where the gaps are, and what it will take to make gambling harm a core part of how Australia prevents family violence.
Delegates at a Leadership Institute summit, Melbourne 2026Post-conference workshop · Friday 11 June · 9:00am–4:00pm
Gambling harm is local. It concentrates where pokies are dense, peaks at predictable times and lands on the same services. Yet councils, police, venues and community services rarely plan together. In this practical workshop, cross-agency teams build a gambling harm and family violence prevention plan for their own area, covering pokies venues, online betting and high-risk times.
You'll work with real local data, practise the levers councils and police already hold, and leave with a one-page plan and template ready to take back to your organisation.
Ideal for
Council community safety, wellbeing and gambling policy staff, police family violence and community engagement officers, Gambler's Help and family violence services, public health and prevention teams.
Speakers
Our speaker line-up is being confirmed now and will be announced over the coming weeks. Expect researchers, regulators, police, councils, banks, family violence and gambling help services, and people with lived experience.
Leading work in this space and interested in presenting?
Talk to us about speakingOpening keynote
National research leader on gambling harm and family violence
Keynote
Federal regulator on the 2027 reforms and enforcement
Panel
Banks, financial counsellors, legal services and the complaints authority
Panel
Researchers, codes, reform advocates and services on online wagering
Session
Victoria's gambling regulator on venues and the casino
Session
NSW on the pokies exclusion register
Session
Councils and police on local prevention
Lived experience
A victim-survivor and a person in recovery from gambling harm
Pricing
40
days left at First In prices
Ends Friday 18 December 2026
Prices in AUD per person, excluding GST. Which rate do I pay?
Tue to Fri · 4 days
First In price
$2,699$3,399
Save $700$800 on Standard
3 days
First In price
$2,199$2,799
Save $600$600 on Standard
Wed and Thu · 2 days
First In price
$1,599$2,099
Save $400$400 on Standard
Tue 8 or Fri 11 June
First In price
$699$899
Save $200$200 on Standard
Bringing a team?
Conference and both workshops
$18,899$23,799
That's $2,362$2,975 per person
Early Bird $21,699$26,599 · Standard $23,799$29,399
Wed 9 and Thu 10 June
$11,199$14,699
That's $1,400$1,837 per person
Early Bird $12,599$16,099 · Standard $13,999$17,499
Wed and Thu · streamed live
First In price
$1,299$1,799
Save $400$400 on Standard
Joining from anywhere
Both conference days stream live with questions online, and every delegate gets the recordings. The Tuesday and Friday workshops are hands-on and run in person only.
Bringing a team?
Both conference days, streamed live
$9,099$12,599
That's $1,137$1,575 per person
Early Bird $10,499$13,999 · Standard $11,899$15,399
5%
3 delegates
10%
4 to 5 delegates
15%
6 or more delegates
10%
Local government
20%
First Nations community-controlled organisations
15%
Community organisations with under 20 staff
Group and sector rates are claimed through our team, not at checkout, and can't be combined or used with tables, teams of 8 or the commercial rate. Members of partner associations use their member code. Commercial rate, for organisations selling to the sector: conference $2,999, all four days $4,599. Places are held for people with lived experience and for students.
Ask about group and sector ratesPartner with us
Partnership opportunities are open to peak bodies, government, financial services and organisations working to reduce gambling harm and family violence. Partners reach decision-makers from every sector that responds to this harm, in the room in Melbourne and online across Australia.
Networking drinks, Leadership Institute summit, Melbourne 2026For a national peak body. Co-shape the program, open and close the summit, and offer your members an exclusive discount.
Align with a conference day, panel or workshop that matches your work, with speaking and branding on that session.
Host the Day One networking drinks, where every sector in the room meets.
Fund free places for people with lived experience, recognised on stage and in every summit channel.
Meet delegates from family violence, financial counselling, government, police, councils and banking in the networking area.
This summit accepts no sponsorship from the gambling industry.
Venue
The summit takes place in central Melbourne, on Wurundjeri and Bunurong Country. The venue will be announced soon, with discounted delegate accommodation.
Can't get to Melbourne? Both conference days are streamed live, with questions online and recordings for every delegate. In 2028 the summit moves to Sydney.
FAQs
Yes. Both conference days are streamed live, with questions online and recordings for every delegate. The Tuesday and Friday workshops are in person only.
The Community & NFP rate is for not-for-profit and community organisations, including Aboriginal community-controlled organisations, financial counselling services and community legal centres. Government agencies, councils, police, courts, regulators, universities and corporate organisations pay the Government & Corporate rate.
Yes. 3 delegates save 5%, 4 to 5 save 10% and 6 or more save 15%. Local government saves 10%, First Nations community-controlled organisations 20% and community organisations with under 20 staff 15%. Members of partner associations can use their member code. Contact our team to claim them; discounts cannot be combined.
The summit is supported by organisations working to reduce gambling harm and family violence. It accepts no sponsorship from the gambling industry.
Sessions carry content notes, a quiet room is open throughout and an on-site counsellor is available on both conference days. Voices of lived experience help shape the program.
You can send a colleague at no cost, transfer to another Leadership Institute event, or switch to a live online pass and be refunded the difference. Cancellations receive a 12-month credit note; a $300 service fee applies within 14 days of the event.
If anything here raises concerns for you or someone you know, help is available 24/7: Gambling Help 1800 858 858 · 1800RESPECT 1800 737 732.
The Leadership Institute acknowledges the Wurundjeri and Bunurong peoples, the Traditional Custodians of the land on which this summit takes place, and pays respect to Elders past and present.
We build great leaders. Summits, masterclasses and training across Australia and New Zealand.
(02) 8294 2044
info@theleadershipinstitute.com.au
Suite 205, 3 Hosking Place, Sydney, NSW, 2000
By signing up to our mailing list, you will receive up to date information on the latest relevant training courses, Konnect Learning scheduling information, news and offers.
.svg){kind=small}
