California welfare recipients withdrew $4 million from casino ATMs in three years – with your tax dollars.
Now Ron DeSantis just fixed what every other governor was too afraid to touch.
What Ron DeSantis found when he looked at what tax dollars were actually paying for will make your blood boil.
Florida Draws the Line Other States Never Would
Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Monday that Florida's Temporary Cash Assistance benefits – distributed through EBT cards – will no longer be accepted for tobacco, vaping products, video games, theme park tickets, tattoos, spa services, tanning beds, adult material, or psychic and fortune-telling services.
The point-of-sale systems at participating retailers will automatically block the transactions.
"If somebody really is needy, we just want to make sure that money is going to the things that are going to help that individual and help the dependents," DeSantis said at a Tampa press conference.
The move builds on Florida's "Healthy SNAP" initiative launched in April, which already banned EBT purchases of soda, energy drinks, and candy for food assistance.
Interim DCF Secretary Kate Williams made clear what the left always ignores: families keep every dollar they currently receive.
"These changes will not affect a family's eligibility for temporary cash assistance, nor will it impact the amount that they receive," Williams said.
Florida has submitted a formal state plan amendment to the federal government – and DeSantis expects swift approval from the Trump administration.
The Fraud the Other 49 States Pretended Not to See
This isn't a new problem.
The GAO identified this abuse over a decade ago.
A bipartisan Senate Finance Committee investigation found that California welfare recipients had withdrawn $3.9 million from casino ATMs and $20,000 from adult entertainment establishments – in a single 40-month window.
Mississippi saw $77 million in TANF funds potentially misspent, converted to personal use, or outright wasted.
https://twitter.com/ReOpenChris/status/2092244292337066280?s=20
California saw an alleged $181 million theft of EBT cash assistance.
The Ways and Means Committee found that 78 percent of TANF spending on non-assistance activities operates with zero guardrails – and unlike virtually every other major federal program, TANF has never been required to track improper payments.
Medicaid and SNAP together racked up more than $47 billion in improper payments in FY 2025 alone, according to the GAO.
DeSantis looked at all of this and asked the obvious question.
"I don't know why some of this is happening," he said.
Why Every Other State Looked Away
Twenty-two states have now restricted certain SNAP food purchases – banning soda, candy, and junk food from EBT.
Not one of them had restricted cash assistance spending until today.
The political reason is obvious.
https://twitter.com/GovRonDeSantis/status/2091992406908399854?s=20
Democrats have spent decades telling welfare recipients that any restriction on how they spend government money is an attack on their dignity.
The Cato Institute confirmed in July that nobody in Washington ever bothered to define what welfare money is actually supposed to buy – and liberals used that silence to protect every dollar going to tanning beds and psychics.
Florida just closed that loophole.
The Trump administration is expected to approve the amendment quickly, and the $16 billion TANF program has been a free-for-all long enough.
The question now is which of the other 49 governors have the spine to follow.
Sources:
- Ron DeSantis, Press Conference Remarks, Tampa, Fla., August 24, 2026.
- Kate Williams, Press Conference Remarks, Tampa, Fla., August 24, 2026.
- "Curbing Waste, Fraud, and Abuse in Federal Welfare Programs," Cato Institute, July 8, 2026.
- "Chairman Smith Floor Remarks: Preventing Waste, Fraud, and Abuse in TANF Act," Ways and Means Committee, June 3, 2026.
- Hatch and Baucus, "Welfare Integrity Now – WIN for Children and Families Act," Senate Finance Committee.
- Washington Examiner, "DeSantis cuts tattoos, tanning beds, and tobacco from welfare benefits list," August 24, 2026.
