Welfare Cards Being Used at California Casino ATMs
Written by Roger S | Sunday, June 27th, 2010
Lawmakers will be having a field day with the news that money has been withdrawn from ATMs on casino floors in California by people using their welfare debit cards.
The Los Angeles Times reported that money was being withdrawn at gaming establishments at casinos, causing uproar among social services and even the Governor’s office.
“We have instructed our vendors to prohibit these cards from being accepted at ATMs located in casinos and card rooms,” said a spokesman for Gov. Schwarzenegger . “It is reprehensible that anyone would use taxpayer money for anything other than its intended purpose.”
The thought that cash earmarked for socially deprived people is actually being withdrawn by those “strolling from poker games to blackjack tables” will undoubtedly stir major controversy among lawmakers in a bid to tackle the growing budget deficit.
The fact of the matter is that only a tiny proportion of the literally thousands of ATMs in the network of machines serving casino floors allow cash to be withdrawn through welfare debit cards.
However, this has not stopped the sharp criticism that has been heard across the board. The system to provide welfare benefits through bank cards was introduced by Gray Davis, the Democrat Governor who served before Schwarzenegger.
The current Governor threatened earlier this year to eliminate the state welfare program and has been battling with lawmakers to find ways to “combat waste and fraud in the state’s social services program.”
The Los Angeles Times tracked down several casinos that offered ATMs that allowed welfare card access, such as the Capitol Casino.
“The Capitol Casino, a few blocks from the legislative chambers in Sacramento, appears on the social services website showing where clients can get money,” writes the author, Jack Dolan. “Each of its small rooms has an ATM: one so close to a poker table that a player could lean back and withdraw cash without leaving his chair; the other is a few steps from the blackjack table.”
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· Written by Roger S · Filed Under Poker News · Comments Off
