In California, people on welfare get debit cards that give them $694 a month to buy food and clothing for their families.  Unfortunately, some of those people have been saying:  "I can double that $694 in an hour of blackjack, and then we're going to Sizzler!"

The " Los Angeles Times" just reviewed welfare records and found that ATMs at more than half of the CASINOS in Los Angeles accept the welfare debit cards.  They can get you cash at 32 of 58 Indian casinos, and at 47 of 90 state-run poker rooms.

GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER found out about that hole in the system and said they're going to take immediate action.  Even before that, he'd been thinking of eliminating the debit cards to help relieve some of California's $19 BILLION deficit.

State officials are also going to go through the records to figure out just how much welfare money has been withdrawn at casinos.