National Association for Gambling Studies (NAGS) 2026 Annual Conference

The National Association for Gambling Studies holds its 34th annual conference at Rydges World Square in central Sydney from 16 to 18 November 2026. NAGS is an Australian association for people who research and work on gambling harm, and the audience reflects that: academics, policymakers, clinicians and counsellors, community educators and people who work in gambling venues. It is a research and public-health meeting, not a trade show. Monday morning has two workshops. Jay Robinson leads one on safer gambling in real venues, and Sally Gainsbury, Deborah Cobb-Clark, Agnieszka Tymula and Robert Heirene run the other, on practical tools for reducing harm from online betting. The formal opening in the afternoon includes a Welcome to Country and a plenary on lived experience, followed by three parallel sessions and a welcome cocktail party. On Tuesday, Dr Kasra Ghaharian gives a keynote on the state of AI in gambling and the responsible-AI questions it raises. The rest of the programme runs as parallel sessions across Tuesday and Wednesday. Subjects include dark patterns in online gambling products, machine learning for early detection of harm, mandatory carded play in NSW casinos, the volatility of electronic gaming machines, the next phase of regulation in NSW, harm in migrant communities, international prevalence research, and support for families and young people. Tabcorp and SkyCity Adelaide present their own safer gambling programmes. The association's annual general meeting is held on Tuesday, and closing drinks end the conference on Wednesday. Presentations were chosen through a call for papers that closed on 31 July 2026, with formats ranging from ten-minute student talks to 90-minute workshops and panels. One Wednesday session is a 90-minute interactive panel on including people with lived experience in harm prevention, and a Wednesday plenary slot is still marked as to be confirmed. For affiliates and operators the relevance is indirect but concrete: several sessions study online product design and betting data from a harm-prevention angle, and the regulatory outlook in NSW is on the agenda. Ticket prices are not shown on our listing; registration goes through the association.