California welfare debit cards turned to cash in tribal casino ATMs

Los Angeles Times reports this week showing that California welfare recipients used state-issued debit cards to obtain cash from casino-floor automated teller machines drew national media attention and action by Golden State Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The Times reported Wednesday, citing a records review, that the Department of Social Services-issued cards, which are supposed to supply money for recipients to feed and clothe families, work in automated teller machines at 32 of 58 tribal casinos and 47 of 90 state-licensed poker rooms in California.

The Times followed up Thursday, reporting that welfare recipients used the cards to withdraw $1.8 million from casino-floor ATMs between October 2009 and May.

National Public Radio put another spotlight on the story Thursday, covering it on its “All Things Considered” newsmagazine.

Schwarzenegger responded to the story, the Times said, by issuing an executive order requiring welfare recipients to sign a pledge that they will use their cash benefits only to “meet the basic subsistence needs of their families.”

The Times said Las Vegas-based Global Cash Access, which supplies ATMs to more than 1,000 casinos nationwide, started programming their machines to reject welfare cards more than a decade ago.