Essendon Football Club is pleased to announce its new partnership with the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation.

The partnership follows the Club’s decision to end commercial partnerships with betting and wagering agencies almost twelve months ago and signing the Responsible Gambling Charter in October last year.

Essendon CEO, Xavier Campbell, said the Club was committed to achieving the key objectives outlined in the Charter.

“Our partnership with the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation is another important step in reducing the proliferation of gambling,” Campbell said.

“Our young supporters are most at risk due to the significant increase in sports betting advertising, and we need to provide them with the tools to make informed decisions when it comes to gambling.

“We are working closely with the foundation to help educate and raise awareness of responsible gambling within the community.”

“As a Club we acknowledge we still generate a percentage of our revenue from poker machines, but as a Board and Executive we are currently challenging our traditional business model and looking at ways to evolve our revenue streams in a socially responsible way.” 

Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation Chief Executive, Serge Sardo, said the Responsible Gambling Charter is a key element of the foundation’s sporting clubs program.

“We are working with more than 160 clubs across the state at both the elite and local sporting level to counter the growing culture of gambling in sport,” Sardo said.

“Gambling is changing the way young people experience sport but we stand with the clubs who want to send the message that the game is exciting enough, without having a bet,” he said.

Information on the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation services and charter is available at www.responsiblegambling.vic.gov.au