$69 million in California’s welfare money spent out of state, including Hawaii, Vegas casinos

$69M in Calif. welfare money spent out of state

LOS ANGELES — Nearly $69 million in welfare money meant to help California’s neediest families was spent or withdrawn at locations such as Hawaii, Las Vegas casinos and cruise ships from Miami.

The finding reported Monday in the Los Angeles Times is based on data compiled since 2007 by the California Department of Social Services.

Data showed that the biggest chunk of out-of-state money — $11.8 million — was spent at casinos or withdrawn from ATMs in Las Vegas. The paper said there were also questionable transactions in Hawaii, Miami and Guam.

The investigation showed out-of-state spending on state-issued aid cards was less than 1 percent of the $10.8 billion spent by welfare recipients from January 2007 to May 2010.

Information from: Los Angeles Times, www.latimes.com