Double or Nothing: California Moves to Stop Welfare Recipients From Using Cash to Gamble
jonathanturley
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has moved to stop a legitimately disturbing trend: welfare recipients using state-issued debit cards withdrew welfare payments as cash from casino floors. Since October 2009, welfare recipients have withdrawn more than $1.8 million in taxpayer cash on casino floors.
Schwarzenegger issued an executive order requiring welfare recipients to “promise ” they will use cash benefits only to “meet the basic subsistence needs” of their families. It is not clear what penalties come from broken promises. More than half of the tribal casinos and poker rooms in California showed such withdrawals using the debit cards issued by the state in 2002.
The state is moving to get the card vendor to blocking its use at casino machines. Of course, they could still take cash at other locations (soon to be located near casinos) and let the good times roll.
