Investigation Reveals US Welfare Recipients Spend Cash at Strip Clubs, Liquor Stores, Porn Shops

An investigation has revealed welfare recipients in the US took out cash at bars, liquor stores, X-rated video shops, hookah parlors and even strip clubs. A database of 200 million Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) showed that welfare recipients using their EBT cards to make dozens of cash withdrawals at ATMs, porn shops, lounge, saloons and liquor shops.

Welfare recipients receive food stamps and cash assistance under the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.

Both benefits are accessed through an EBT card, but only cash assistance, meant for housing, utilities and household necessities, can be accessed at ATMs.

According to the New York Post, a single-person household could receive a maximum 200 dollars in monthly food stamps plus 158 dollars in cash assistance.

A family of four could get as much as 668 dollars in food stamps and 433 dollars in cash.

The food-stamp program prohibits the purchase of booze, tobacco and lottery tickets with an EBT card.

But with the cash-assistance program, users can blow money on strippers or a six-pack and to tap welfare dollars from liquor stores, casinos and adult-oriented establishments, the paper said.

The Post found dozens of pubs, nightclubs and tobacco shops where welfare dough was dispensed, and presumably spent.

Source-ANI