Being irresponsible with your gambling and losing too much money is a bad thing. It can bring financial hardship on you and your family and it is the reason some people oppose gambling. If you do, though, it is best to come clean. What would be even worse would be to commit a crime by making up a story about burglary and sexual assault. That is exactly what one woman did, according to investigators.

According to investigators with the Riverside County sheriff’s department, a Southern California woman lied to deputies on August 9. On that date, she reported that a man ransacked her room and attacked her with a knife while attempting to sexually assault her. She said she was able to fight him off and gave a description.

The investigators noticed inconsistencies in the woman’s story, though. After they questioned her, the woman, who has not been identified, admitted to making up the story. She did it to hide the fact that she had lost money at a California tribal casino, though the amount lost is also unknown. Details about the extent of her gambling problems, if any, have not been disclosed.

The case has been referred to the prosecutors, who will decide whether to press charges against the woman for filing a false police report. Whether they do or not, this is a good time to reiterate that you should never wager money that you can’t afford to lose. If you need to commit a crime and concoct a story about a sexual assault and burglary, then that is a good indication that you shouldn’t wager the money. In that case, it’s best to not go to the casino. Responsible gambling is important at any casino, online and offline.

In a “revelation” that should surprise no one, it has been reported that local government agencies in California are misallocating funds from the tribal casinos. It seems that instead of using the money the way it is intended, those funds are going to other things.

Under the contracts between the state of California and the tribes, a percentage of the net wins from the casinos is deposited into a Special Distribution Fund for local governments. The government agencies then spend that money for uses related to the operation of the casinos, including casino-related crime, emergency responders to the casinos, traffic and more. Basically, if a local government agency has to spend money due to a problem or so-called problem related to the tribal casinos, they can use the money (in the form of grants) from the Special Distribution Fund for that. Sounds easy, right? Not for the government.

For fiscal year 2008-2009, state auditors looked at 20 grants used by seven counties, worth $5.7 million. That is a small sample size of the 185 grants in 25 counties during that time. The auditors determined that $1.7 million was used properly. If you’re keeping score, that means the government agencies managed to misuse 70% of the funds. That’s pretty impressive, even by government standards.

Margaret Fernandez, a spokeswoman for the Office of the California State Auditor, said that many of the agencies they audited said that “they were unaware of certain requirements.” Sure, I’ll bet they thought there was just a giant pile of money they can use with no strings attached. That sounds believable.

Much of the money went to projects that had little relation to the casinos, while some had no relation at all. In most cases, the agencies were simply unable to justify the spending by proving they were related to the impacts of tribal casinos. In response to the misuse of funds, the auditors are suggesting that California pass a law that requires counties to surrender the grant money if they do not meet the reporting requirements for funds previously spent.

This bill seemed a lock. Though gambling is always somewhat controversial, the idea to allow intrastate online poker within the borders of California had few opponents. The state is hemorrhaging cash and needs additional sources of revenue ASAP. The bill proposing intrastate online gambling seemed destined to have an easy path to becoming law.

Never underestimate the ability of politicians to ruin something good. Most of the bad bills that have been passed were based on good intentions, usually in the name of offering protection. Interestingly, you can say the same thing about the Mafia.

Anyway, though few objected to an intrastate online poker bill for California, as I have already reported, the bill at question was crafted so poorly that even the biggest proponents of intrastate online gambling, including the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, could not support the bill. Their main contention is that the bill does nothing to stop outside competition. Though it is meant to allow California operators to make money, that money could go overseas.

Due to the problems with the bill, Senator Roderick Wright, Chairman of the Governmental Organization Committee, decided to postpone the committee vote on the bill. The vote was scheduled to take place on June 29, but without enough support to pass it, the vote has been delayed. That means it is unlikely that anything will happen with the bill this year.

In a slight understatement, Wright said that “as author of the bill, let me say that the bill needs more work.” By “more work,” he means that he needs to rewrite it in such a way that it will have some support. The groups thought to be the biggest supporters of the bill have come out in opposition to it. Well, not Wright has plenty of time to work on revisions.

Last week I wrote about the revelation that in more than half of California’s casinos, welfare recipients can use their debit cards to withdraw cash. The Electronic Benefit Transfer cards are debit cards used to pay for food, clothes and other necessities, but welfare recipients have been using them to withdraw money at casinos. That’s not exactly the best use of taxpayer money.

At the time of that story, the California government was looking into how much money had been withdrawn from the casino ATM’s using EBT cards. Now they seem to have an answer. The preliminary report is that welfare recipients withdrew $1.8 million from California casinos between the months of October and May alone.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, always on top of things, only found out about this welfare abuse when a Los Angeles Times reporter asked him for a comment on the story. Since then, he issued an executive order to block access to cash withdraws at casinos by welfare recipients.

This is one of the few good ideas Schwarzenegger has had in the last few years. Of course, he’s not a big fan of the CalWORKS program (California’s welfare program), having proposed eliminating it entirely in his May budget. This was another rare good Schwarzenegger idea.

For those who are worried about the EBT debit cards being used to pay for nonessential things, it seems like the most obvious solution would be to get rid of the debit cards. Remember old-fashioned food stamps? Those could only be used for food, not cigarettes, beer or anything else that is not needed. Of course, the CalWORKS program pays for more than food. It also pays for clothes, housing and more.

For anyone living in any of the other 49 U.S. states who thinks this abuse of the CalWORKS program doesn’t affect you, you’re wrong. First of all, there is a very real possibility that at some point the federal government will give bailout funds to California to help them balance their books. Even if that never happens, though, more than half of the money used in the CalWORKS program comes from federal funds. That means welfare recipients aren’t only stealing money from California taxpayers to have fun at a casino. They’re also ripping off taxpayers in every other state. With entitlement programs being the biggest burden to the U.S. economy, this is just another example of why comprehensive entitlement reform is necessary.

In a shocking revelation, it was learned that California’s welfare system is being abused. Yeah, I know. Sit down, breathe deeply and take some time to let that sink in. The Los Angeles Times has reported that in more than half of the state’s casinos, people are able to use welfare debit cards to withdraw money. Somehow that doesn’t seem like the best use of the cards.

California’s welfare system uses an Electronic Benefit Transfer, which is basically a debit card given out to welfare recipients. Those debit cards are intended to be used to buy food, clothing and other essentials. As anyone who has studied welfare and other government entitlements knows, the system is being abused and people are buying a lot of things that are nonessential, all on the taxpayers’ dime.

The EBT cards can be used in the automated teller machines in 32 of the state’s 58 tribal casinos and 47 of the 90 state-licensed poker rooms. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, when informed of this problem, promised to take immediate action. Of course, since he’s taken a few years trying to figure out what to do about the state’s budget – which definitely requires immediate action – I wouldn’t hold my breath.

The social services agency running their welfare program contracts with a private ATM network for the transfer of funds to welfare recipients. According to a spokesman, no one at the agency or the ATM network was aware that funds were being withdrawn at casinos.

Showing better acting ability than Schwarzenegger himself, one of the governor’s spokesmen said that he was surprised to learn this news and that it is “reprehensible that anyone would use taxpayer money for anything other than its intended purpose.” Somehow I don’t buy that a California politician is surprised that taxpayer money is being wasted.

All of this, of course, is the fault of the state of California. The EBT debit cards were created in order to “remove the stigma sometimes associated with public assistance,” according to their government website. Therein lies the problem. Why would you want to remove the stigma?

Receiving government assistance should only be a last resort. By getting rid of food stamps and other easily-identified programs in favor of debit cards, they make people more likely to sign up for the welfare program. That leads to an increase of public spending. Considering that California is crumbling under a mountain of debt – with entitlements being the largest problem – the last thing you want to do is encourage people to be on welfare and use public money. Switching to a debit card also makes it easier to use the money for things it was not intended, as this report makes clear. By switching to the debit card system, California has led to an increase in spending under the welfare program as well as an increase in abuse. So please, California politicians, stop pretending to be surprised.

Only California could screw something like this up. Aside from the U.S. federal government, the California government is the most inept, wasteful and clueless governing body imaginable. This is the same state that decided to hand I.O.U’s to residents because they couldn’t afford to pay them.

What have they done now? The state of California has crafted an online gambling bill that has so little support that even proponents of gambling expansion are against it. Wow, now that’s an accomplishment.

The bill in question is Senate Bill 1485, which would authorize the creation of an intrastate online poker system. The bill proposes that the Department of Justice give out three five-year contracts to California operators to run online poker websites. The sites would be regulated by the state government and only residents of the state of California would be able to play.

So what’s the problem? As is often the case, the bill is reported to be poorly worded and too vague on the details. Opponents of the bill state that there is nothing preventing overseas companies from bidding for and winning the contracts. Therefore, a bill that was intended to bring money into the state could actually take money away from it.

The worries about the bill are so widespread that even the biggest proponents of online poker legislation seem to be against it. That includes the Tribal Alliance of Sovereign Indian Nations (TASIN), who sent a letter to Rod Wright, the chairman of California’s Senate Governmental Organization Committee, expressing their opposition to the bill. Even the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, the biggest proponents of California online gambling, signed that letter.

The Morongo Indians have pushed hard for online gambling in the state, but even they can’t support this bill in its current form. If it is amended, they may change their mind. In the meantime, a hearing on the bill has been scheduled for Tuesday, June 29.

The state of California is set to vote on online poker legislation today and could be the first to pass a law legalizing and regulating the industry. The Senate bill, SB 1485, was given urgency status and approved last Friday, clearing the way for it to be voted upon today, the same that that UIGEA goes into effect.

If passed, the online poker bill would allow the State Department of Justice to hand out three contracts to online poker websites. The contracts would be good for five years each and the sites would be based in California. Under the bill, only residents of the state of California would be able to play on the online poker websites. If the industry is confined to the borders of the state, the federal government has not constitutional authority over it.

By tagging the bill with urgent status, that means that if it is approved, the law would take effect immediately, rather than wait until January 1 of next year. It is urgent because California faces a $19 billion budget deficit. The state hopes that taxes, fees and other revenue from intrastate online poker sites could generate $1.9 billion.

There are concerns that there will be low participation in the online poker websites, since only California residents will be able to play. Also, though there are various statistics for it, online poker is a rather secretive activity and no one knows for sure how popular it is overall, let alone within one particular state.

If the bill is approved by the Senate, it will then have to be passed by the State Assembly and then signed into law by Governor Schwarzenegger.

If you remember, and you probably don’t, a while back we reported on the Morongo Band in Mission Indians and their quest to provide online gambling within the state of California. Recently, the Morongo Band has opposed measures in Congress to repeal the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). While that may seem absurd, given their desire to provide online gambling, there seemed to be selfish reasons for it. A legalization of it nationwide would increase competition and the Morongos, according to some, wanted it all to themselves.

Now, however, the tribe seems to be getting more generous. They now are asking the state to allow them to allow them to provide online poker. The state should regulate the industry to ensure that it is safe and fair. In return, the tribe would cut the state in on some of the profit. The Morongo Band is reiterating that California need not wait for nationwide regulation. If they keep the online poker games inside the state and only allow players who reside in California to play, no federal regulation is necessary.

Facing major budget problems, California is looking for any ways to make extra money, so it’s possible that they’ll go along with the Morongo’s ideas. Only time will tell.