- California welfare cards can be used in many casino ATMs, By Jack Dolan, June 24, 2010, Los Angeles Times: “California welfare recipients are able to use state-issued debit cards to withdraw cash on gaming floors in more than half of the casinos in the state, a Los Angeles Times review of records found. The cards, provided by the Department of Social Services to help recipients feed and clothe their families, work in automated teller machines at 32 of 58 tribal casinos and 47 of 90 state-licensed poker rooms, the review found. State officials said Wednesday they were working to determine how much money had been withdrawn from casino ATMs by people using the welfare debit cards…”
- Confusion over use of welfare debit cards at casinos, By Clark Mason, June 29, 2010, Santa Rosa Press Democrat: “Several Indian casinos on the North Coast and a poker cardroom in Petaluma are listed among gambling venues where welfare recipients have used state-issued debit cards to withdraw cash. In the wake of a newspaper story that found California welfare recipients could use their cards in a majority of the 57 casinos in the state, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger moved to ensure the ATMs at the casinos no longer accept the cards. But a spokesman for the governor said Monday that it could be several weeks before the welfare cards are deactivated at the gambling establishments. ‘We said we need to prohibit these cards from being used in casinos,’ said Governor’s spokesman Aaron McLear. ‘They’re going through the process of reprogramming them now.’ Assemblyman Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, said it is ‘deeply disturbing’ that welfare recipients are using the debit cards to gamble. Casinos are ‘taking advantage of folks that are on welfare and allowing them to use welfare debit cards to gamble and lose at the tables and slots,’ said Huffman. ‘Already, people view casinos as preying on the poor. This only fuels the perception,’ he said. He also said it is upsetting that it was allowed to happen at all. ‘It clearly tells us we have some work to do and ought to take some simple, but firm steps right away to make sure it never happens again,’ he said. After last week’s publication of a Los Angeles Times story on the topic, state officials acknowledged welfare recipients used the debit cards to withdraw more than $1.8 million in taxpayer cash in casinos and card rooms between October 2009 and last month…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty