Gambling Support Service – new name, same committed service
- deansimpson7
- Jun 3
- 5 min read
Updated: Jun 4
The gambling industry is a booming one in Melbourne – and it is devastating lives and families. But not all hope is lost. There is a lifeline for those impacted by gambling. Salvos Online journalist LERISSE SMITH spoke with Michael Kheirallah, Manager of the Alcohol and Other Drugs (AOD) Gambling Support Service, about the newly renamed service and the critical role it plays in the community.
Michael, could you first tell me why you changed the name of your service?
We used to be called the Melbourne Counselling Service. However, there is a similar service in the city that is called the Melbourne Counselling Centre, run by a private operator – and people got mixed up between them!
We don’t just provide a counselling service but also community education and venue support. So, I thought the name was no longer relevant. I spoke with senior management at The Salvation Army, and we decided to change it to the ‘Gambling Support Service’, which fits in well into the roles we undertake in the community. It is a Melbourne service, and our history dates back to 2010. Whether we expand in the future will depend on State Government funding.
What services do you provide to the community?
Our service provides a variety of services to a large number of people across Inner North Melbourne.
We provide counselling for people who are impacted by gambling harms by providing therapeutic counselling, community education and financial counselling. We have community educators who go out and provide education sessions to universities, schools, community groups and students to tell them about gambling harms and to try to minimise gambling harms.
READ MORE: Anna Bardsley recounts the cost of addiction
We also have financial counsellors who go directly to clients and can assist with small funding grants, if needed, to get them out of trouble, as sometimes, unfortunately, the result of gambling is that they may lose all their money and homes. Additionally, we have venue support workers who will go out to gambling venues and train the staff on different legislation to make sure they comply with State Government standards.
After the Royal Commission into the Casino Operator and Licence, there were also some recommendations that operators of gambling venues needed to connect with agencies such as The Salvation Army.
We have a big case load. Since the launch of our service, we have had a big increase in referrals to the service. When I started with The Salvation Army, our Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) were low, but now we are on track with our KPI. Our team do an amazing job. We are on track with our KPIs and meeting our targets and have a very good link and connection with a lot of agencies. We work with them on regular basis – from prisons to The Crown in Melbourne’s CBD. We now have a therapeutic counsellor every Friday night at The Crown. The service provides support to the people who are in need on the ground. We try and help people who are distressed or needing help.
So, what are the most common forms of gambling addictions your team deal with on a daily basis?
We find mostly males are addicted to gambling, but sometimes it can affect the whole family. The common forms of gambling addictions include casinos, Sports Betting and online gambling. The reason people gamble include personal issues, depression, anxiety, not having a purpose in life, family issues and family violence. We work with the whole family to ensure we are reaching out to them and to try and help them.
We have a very experienced team, especially the therapeutic counsellors. They provide excellent work. If you look at the area of Melbourne where people are gambling either at venues or on the phone, Brimbank City Council is number one, followed by the City of Hume, Casey, and the City of Wyndham – municipalities, plus others where multicultural communities are located.
And why do you think it largely affects multicultural communities?
People come from a country that had a social life, and then they come to Melbourne where they have a lack of the English language and lack of connections. The gambling venues are attractive to them. They provide them with tea, coffee, music and bright lights. They really don’t need to speak English. And unfortunately, gambling can be part of their cultures. They want to try the lucky number.
Also, in Melbourne, there is not much opportunity to go out, especially at night to a festival or something, and especially in winter. That is why gambling is so high. Just in the financial year of 2023 to 2024, almost $7 billion was spent in Victoria on gambling. And now it’s a very popular sport. Sports Betting is very popular now too. They gamble on anything now, including the election. The accessibility is what makes gambling so easy. And now the new trend is a lot of young kids who are gambling.
Can you speak more about children and gambling?
There are almost 600,000 young kids between the age 12 to 14 who are gambling online. It is because a lot of games have some sort of element of gambling in them. So, they develop this tendency at a young age, and then they want to try real gambling when they grow up. It’s getting worse, unfortunately, every year. Online betting is a very big problem, too, with children.
What is the ultimate impact of gambling?
It devastates families. It can lead to family violence, mental health issues, drug and alcohol abuse. Gambling is very bad. It’s not just about gambling and losing your money. It is going to lead to so many different things. It costs the government a lot of money to deal with people who are affected by gambling. We have gambling services on every corner in our catchment areas.
Is there hope to tackling the whole issue of gambling and its consequences in the future?
The gambling industry is very strong, but after the Royal Commission, many things have changed, and there is a big push now on the Federal Government to ban gambling ads, and on social media and program TV ads, at least. It is similar to cigarettes – it is going to take a long time. But we are very committed. We now operate from our Kensington office, but we also operate from Kathleen Syme and Little Flinders St Library, the State Library, and from TSA Flagstaff and Coburg office.
We are trying to have a physical presence in different catchment areas to make it easier for our clients to come and receive the service. We really try to use a different approach as we want to reach out to those clients who are really in desperate need of help.
Click through the slideshow below for photos of the Melbourne launch of the renamed Salvation Army Gambling Support Service in March 2025:
