Thread: Mich. bill would ban welfare debit cards at ATMs in casinos

Mich. bill would ban welfare debit card use at ATMs in casinos

Posted 3h 17m ago
By John Wisely, USA TODAY

Welfare recipients have long been banned from using their benefits for alcohol and tobacco. Lawmakers in some states are eying another vice — gambling — a move some advocates for the poor see as unnecessary and unfair.

Michigan legislators are debating a ban on using public assistance debit cards at ATMs in casinos. In June, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, issued an executive order banning the practice. Minnesota and Arizona also ban it.

"This money was intended to provide for basic needs for people who are truly in need," said Michigan state Sen. Bill Hardiman, a Republican who has sponsored the bill that would end the practice in his state. "The willingness to help drops substantially when these benefits are being abused." The Michigan Senate unanimously approved the bill this week and moved it to the House of Representatives, where it was referred to the Committee on Families and Children's Services.

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Laws such as these stigmatize people collecting benefits, said Marc Cohan, litigation director for the National Center for Law and Economic Justice.

"It's a solution to a non-existent problem that may have an inequitable impact on low-income people," Cohan said.

Edward Woods III, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Human Services, agreed, noting that the benefits are earned by the recipients, who must file a career plan and work to improve their job skills while they are collecting.

"For us to suggest that they are gambling, we're just not going to do that," he said.

Cutting off access in casinos requires reprogramming the machines to reject certain accounts, said Mike Lee, CEO of the ATM Industry Association, a trade group. Reprogramming typically can be done remotely but some lower-end units must be adjusted individually, he said.

California officials worked with ATM operators to cut off casino access, said Lizelda Lopez, spokeswoman for CalWorks.

"It took a lot of man-hours but they did it with existing resources," she said. "The executive order also requires recipients to sign an agreement that these benefits are for basic needs like food, shelter and clothing."

Schwarzenegger's executive order credited news reports with revealing the practice. In June, the Los Angeles Times reported California welfare recipients had withdrawn $1.8 million over a seven-month period from casino ATMs. Hardiman said he read about California's actions and raised the issue in Michigan.

Hardiman says he has documented $87,340 in public assistance benefits withdrawn from ATMs at Detroit's MotorCity Casino over a 12-month period. He acknowledges many ATMs within walking distance of casinos wouldn't be affected, but he insists the change would give pause to would-be gamblers.

Nevada, the nation's top gambling state, doesn't restrict access, spokesman Ben Kieckhefer said. Back in the days of welfare checks, casinos often cashed them at no fee, so it's not surprising some recipients would use ATMs there, Kieckhefer said.

"It's totally possible that they are clients working part-time in the hospitality industry," he said.

New Jersey also allows recipients to access their benefits through casino ATMs and doesn't track how much money is dispensed that way, spokeswoman Nicole Brossoie said.

Wisely reports for the Detroit Free Press.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/201 ... ling_N.htm

If you could only see what happens to the sales of steak , crab , lobster and shrimp on the first of the month in Vegas , you would be amazed

Why they don't go to something like a wic requirements on food stamps , I don't know

Wic is bad enough