As We See It

  • Print
  • Small FontsDefault FontsLarge Fonts

California welfare is going straight to Las Vegas

Great news, Las Vegans! A lot of that welfare money that California gives its unemployed residents to buy food, medication and shelter ... is being spent here!

California distributes welfare through CalWORKS cards, which function like ATM cards, and the California Department of Social Service tracks where these cards are used, both in and out of the state. Of the $69 million that Californians withdrew outside of the state between January 2007 and May 2010, $11.8 million was taken from Las Vegas ATMs. That puts us at No. 1—way ahead of Disney World and Hawaii.

Of course, it’s hard to know how much of this $11.8 million was actually gambled away at the craps tables. Some Vegas casinos voluntarily block the use of CalWORKS cards. But, according to the California Department of Social Services, we do know this: California welfare recipients withdrew $8,968 from the Tropicana, $7,995 from the Venetian, and more than $34,700 from the 7-Eleven near Encore.

California’s loss is clearly our gain. How should we celebrate? I know—let’s send our shelter residents over the border to buy SuperLotto Plus tickets.

Print This

Discussion:

In an effort to increase the dialogue on our stories, we will be requiring Facebook accounts to leave comments on lasvegasweekly.com stories. We believe that Weekly readers are likely to have Facebook accounts already and more apt to comment on this site with that account rather than have to create an account with us. If, however, you do not have a Facebook account, click here to sign up for one. If you have questions, comments or concerns about this new commenting policy, please let us know.

For any other questions related to commenting on Weekly stories, please read our full policy.

Facebook Activity