N.J. may garnishee deadbeats' jackpots

[rainbow4321]

http://www.al.com/newsflash/national/index.ssf?/base/national-39/1108520435244540.xml&storylist=national


The New Jersey Legislature has passed a measure aimed at preventing gamblers who owe child support in the state from keeping big slot machine jackpots to themselves.

The bill would require slots operators to give names, addresses and Social Security numbers of major winners to the state, to uncover deadbeat parents and deduct what they owe before the jackpot is paid out.

"We think anyone who owes child support should pay it, but having private businesses doing the state's job is just wrong," said Frank Fahrenkopf Jr., president of the American Gaming Association.

State officials could not estimate how many jackpot winners would be affected. The law would not apply to people who win at table games or to those who win low-level slot jackpots. It also would not apply to non-New Jersey residents

[prodigal_green]

1. as the child of a deadbeat dad

good.

[liberalhistorian]

2. I definitely second that,

as the mother of a child of a deadbeat dad! As for the comment about how "private businesses" shouldn't do the work of government; excuse me, but aren't these the same people screaming that EVERYTHING should be privatized?

[MSgt213]

3. What business is it of the state if I'm not a deadbeat dad?

[prodigal_green]

6. taxes.

they should collect this information for taxation. Gambling winnings are taxable.

[Turbineguy]

4. Great idea!

if nothing else we'll find out just how few people actually win at the slots.

[William Bloode]

5. I can see it.

If they owe they need to pay.

[tcoursen]

7. I think this is good

Everybody who plays the slots in A/C already has a card with the casino. The casinos track how much you gamble and that is how they give out all the free rooms and such. My father-in-law has like a dozen of these cards and is constantly getting invites for free rooms. Everybody signs up for these cards to get the free stuff.

So the only real change is just having the casino give that information to the state. So if the people have no problem signing up for the cards to get the free stuff, they shouldn't bitch about having that information also go to the state for purposes of taxes and finding deadbeat dads.

In NJ there will probably be a lot more of this type of stuff going on given the current budget crisis. The state is looking at a lot of ways to raise tax money, even looking at taxing peoples 401K contributions.