New York would prohibit welfare recipients from spending their tax-funded benefits on cigarettes, alcohol, gambling, and strip clubs under a bill passed by the state Senate on Tuesday, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Many states, including New York, issue welfare recipients an Electronic Benefits Transfer card, or EBT card, with cash benefits. The systems have simplified the distribution of financial assistance, but they also provide a way of tracking where the benefits are withdrawn.
Ten other states have already ruled social services can't be spent on items from beer to guns. Washington already bans purchases of alcohol, tobacco, gambling, lottery tickets, and adult entertainment while Indiana bans the purchase of guns, gambling and alcohol using social services. Other states with restrictions include Arizona (lottery tickets), California (gambling, adult entertainment), Colorado (alcohol, gambling, guns), Maine (alcohol, gambling, adult entertainment), Massachusetts (alcohol, tobacco, gambling, and lottery), Minnesota (alcohol and tobacco), Pennsylvania (alcohol and tobacco). (pi)