About

• What is Be Ahead of the Game?
• Program design and delivery
• Our public health approach
• Who we are

Be Ahead of the Game is a Victoria State Government initiative designed to help young people understand the risks of gambling. The free school education program empowers the whole school community to support young people to think critically about gambling, gambling advertising, and the links between gambling and gaming.

It explores the current marketing and technology landscape that makes gambling increasingly normalised, enticing, and accessible to young people, while helping young people to understand and identify gambling harm.

Drawing on the latest research, the program supports students to:

• develop informed attitudes about gambling
• understand the risks and harms associated with gambling
• be aware of the support services available for people experiencing gambling problems.

Download an A4 brochure - Be Ahead of the Game: A gambling awareness program for young people: PDF (136 KB) or Word .docx (549KB).

The design of the Be Ahead of the Game program is evidence-based and community-led. Partnerships with education peak bodies ensure resources align with Victorian school curriculums, while ongoing consultation with teachers, students and parents informs continuous improvement of the program.

Curriculum-aligned units of work are designed for easy use by teachers, with engaging and interactive lessons and comprehensive teacher guides.

Free information sessions are delivered by experienced community engagement staff from local Gambler’s Help agencies.

Be Ahead of the Game forms part of the Victoria State Government’s public health approach to preventing gambling harm. It recognises that:

• a combination of factors contributes to gambling harm, including social, cultural, policy, legislative, economic and environmental factors
• harm is experienced by individuals who gamble, their family members, friends, communities and the broader population
• gambling products are designed to keep people gambling, and the way industry promotes and offers them increases the risk of harm
• there is a collective responsibility for minimising harm that sits across governments, regulators, product developers, gambling providers, the advertising industry and those who partner with gambling companies, such as sporting bodies.

Be Ahead of the Game is developed by the Department of Health, Victoria.

For more information, visit the 'Contact us' page.