Gambling

2011
Establishment of the Australian Churches Gambling Taskforce. The Taskforce brought together leaders of the major Christian churches in Australia and the heads of their social services arms nationally. The Taskforce shared a commitment to reduce the harms caused by poker machine gambling.

1998/1999
VCGA response to allegations made by the representatives of the Victorian Council of Churches – Gaming Task Force at public hearings held by the Productivity Commission in Melbourne on 23 November 1998

1996: The Victorian Inter-Church Gambling Taskforce
The Taskforce was established by the Victorian Heads of Churches in 1996. Formal membership included the Anglican, Baptist, Catholic and Uniting Churches and the Salvation Army. It also worked with other churches in Victoria concerned about the harms gambling is causing in our community.

1996 “Churches blast Kennett on gambling.”
The Australian, 27 March 1996
“Key church leaders last night made a dramatic foray into the Victorian election campaign, launching an extraordinary attack on the social impact of the policies of the Kennett Government, just four days from the election. In an unprecedented action the heads of the Catholic, Anglican, and Uniting Churches issued a joint statement under the auspices of the Victorian Council of Churches stridently criticising the excessive spread of gambling and direction of economic policy under the Coalition. Church leaders conceded they were “extremely concerned” by the casino culture in Victoria”

1990
Submission to Productivity Commission on Gambling (Social Responsibilities Committee, Anglican Diocese of Melbourne). Also online here.

1990
Statement by Heads of Victorian Churches on Gambling

1943
Church Protest on Street Gambling Devices
Friday 17th September 1943 (The Sun, P.16, sourced on Trove)
The Victorian Council of Churches was reported to have protested to the Government about street gambling devices.

13 August 1940
The deputation from the Victorian Council of Churches to the Chief Secretary (Mr. Bailey) to protest against war gambling for war funds

1927 (reported on Trove)
A large deputation, organised by the Council of Churches in Victoria, waited on the Premier (Mr. Hogan) today to protest against the proposal of the Ministry to legalislate the Totalisator.
Mr. Hogan expressed sympathy with many of the views expressed by the deputation, and promised to submit them to the Cabinet. He quoted figures from New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand to show that the introduction of the
Totalisator did not tend to increase gambling, as stated by the deputation. Mr. Hogan said that the Ministry was not introducing the totalisator as a Government enterprise, but to raise money for debts. Provision could be made in the bill to prevent women and children investing on the Totalisator. It
was entirely a financial proposal.

1925
Children and Gambling: Totalisers Influence
The Argus, Wed 11 Nov 1925 (Source: Trove)
A fear that children would be tempted to gamble if the proposal of the Ministry to legalise the totalisator in Victoria were carried into effect was expressed by Dr Alexander Leeper at a meeting of  the Council of Public Education yesterday. A discussion arose when a letter from the Victorian Council of Churches was read, requesting the Council to appoint a representative to attend a deputation which will wait on the Chief Secretary (Dr Argyle) on November 28 to protest against the proposal to introduce a bill to legalise the machine.

25 April 1918 Lotteries – Council of Churches Protest
The Victorian Council of Churches has carried a resolution protesting against the Govermment regulations by which permission has been given to certain business firms to
dispose of war bonds by lotteries. (Trove)

1917 RAFFLES CONDEMNED
Victorian Council of Churches
Reported in the Daily Telegraph 8 October 1917 (see Trove)
A manifesto relating to patriotic funds and gambling, and condemning strongly on religious and moral grounds the custom of raising funds for various patriotic or other purposes by means of raffles has been prepared by the Victorian Council of Churches and sent out to the various churches to be read to the congregations. The manifesto states that since the outbreak of war, which has necessitated great patriotic efforts, the evil has become increasingly insidious and alarming. ‘The attitude of the Churches generally and the large contribution made to patriotic funds”, the manifesto points out, ‘attest our entire sympathy with the objects aimed at. We would desire to stimulate rather than to lessen such efforts in the future, but we would with great urgency ask all Christian people to abstain from all methods of raising funds which involve participation in gambling or raffling, and, either by direct gifts or the formation of separate Red Cross Societies, make their contributions for the help of those whose claims upon our sympathy and self-sacrifice are so great’.
(This was widely reported across Australia, given that VCC was the only such ecumenical group that had been established at that time).

Undated
Gambling and the totalisator: A manifesto from the Council of Churches of Victoria / Council of Churches in Australia statement on gambling (very hard to read the text)