Family Responsibilities Commission found that children in Queensland skipped school to gamble with money from welfare checks.
In its annual report for the year 2019 to 2020, which was tabled in Queensland’s parliament last month, the commission said that indigenous children in Aurukun in the state’s north engaged in gambling circles, sometimes with the encouragement of adults. Others also conducted their own gambling activities using large sums of money in the pot.
The commission attributed the rise in child gambling to restricted activity and movements due to the coronavirus pandemic, on top of an increase in welfare payments.
Lockdowns worsen child gambling