2023 New York Laws › SOS - Social Services › Article 5 - Assistance and Care › Title 1 - General Provisions › 151 - Penalties for Cashing Public Assistance Checks or Accepting Electronic Benefit Transfers From Public Assistance Recipients.

§  151.  Penalties  for  cashing public assistance checks or accepting
electronic benefit  transfers  from  public  assistance  recipients.  1.
Unauthorized  transactions.  Except as otherwise provided in subdivision
two  of  this  section,  no  person,  firm,  establishment,  entity,  or
corporation  (a) licensed under the provisions of the alcoholic beverage
control law to sell  liquor  and/or  wine  at  retail  for  off-premises
consumption;  (b) licensed to sell beer at wholesale and also authorized
to sell beer at retail for off-premises  consumption;  (c)  licensed  or
authorized  to  conduct  pari-mutuel wagering activity under the racing,
pari-mutuel wagering and breeding law; (d) licensed  to  participate  in
charitable gaming under article fourteen-H of the general municipal law;
(e) licensed to participate in the operation of a video lottery facility
under  section  one thousand six hundred seventeen-a of the tax law; (f)
licensed to operate a gaming facility under section one  thousand  three
hundred  eleven of the racing, pari-mutuel wagering and breeding law; or
(g) providing adult-oriented entertainment in which  performers  disrobe
or  perform in an unclothed state for entertainment, or making available
the venue in which performers disrobe or perform in an  unclothed  state
for  entertainment,  shall cash or accept any public assistance check or
electronic benefit transfer device issued by a public  welfare  official
or department, or agent thereof, as and for public assistance.
2.  Authorized  transactions. (a) A grocery store that sells groceries
including staple foods and that also offers, or is  located  within  the
same  building  or  complex  as,  a  casino,  gambling casino, or gaming
establishment; and any area of a pari-mutuel race track  that  does  not
accept  wagers  and  is  not  open  to  the  public  or  to unauthorized
personnel, such as non-wagering areas of the backstretch, may accept any
public assistance check or  electronic  benefit  transfer  issued  by  a
public welfare official or department, or agent thereof. For purposes of
this  paragraph,  "gaming  establishment"  shall  mean any video lottery
facility, off-track betting branch office, simulcast facility,  licensed
commercial charitable gaming facility, or any pari-mutuel race track.
(b) Any establishment that offers gambling incidental to the principal
purpose  of  the  business  at  such  location  may  accept  any  public
assistance check or electronic  benefit  transfer  device  issued  by  a
public welfare official or department, or agent thereof.
3.  Penalties. (a) A violation of the provisions of subdivision one of
this section  taking  place  at  the  licensed  premises  by  a  person,
corporation or entity licensed under the alcoholic beverage control law:
(i)  to  sell liquor and/or wine at retail for off-premises consumption;
(ii) to sell beer at wholesale and  also  authorized  to  sell  beer  at
retail  for  off-premises  consumption;  or  (iii)  to sell liquor, wine
and/or beer  for  on-premises  consumption  at  an  establishment  where
entertainers  appear  unclothed  as  permitted by the rules of the state
liquor authority, shall constitute cause, for the  purposes  of  section
one  hundred  eighteen  of  the  alcoholic beverage control law, for the
revocation, cancellation or suspension of such license.
(b) A violation of the provisions of subdivision one of  this  section
by  any  person,  corporation  or  entity  licensed  to operate a gaming
facility under section one thousand three hundred eleven of the  racing,
pari-mutuel  wagering  and  breeding  law;  licensed  under  section one
thousand six hundred seventeen-a of the tax law to  participate  in  the
operation of a video lottery facility; licensed or authorized to conduct
pari-mutuel wagering under the racing, pari-mutuel wagering and breeding
law;  or  licensed  to  participate  in  charitable gaming under article
fourteen-H of the general municipal  law,  shall  subject  such  person,
corporation  or  entity  to  disciplinary action pursuant to section one
hundred four of the racing, pari-mutuel wagering and  breeding  law  and

section one thousand six hundred seven of the tax law, which may include
revocation, cancellation or suspension of such license or authorization.
(c)  A  violation of the provisions of subdivision one of this section
by any person, firm,  establishment,  entity  or  corporation  providing
adult-oriented  entertainment  in which performers disrobe or perform in
an unclothed state for entertainment, or making available the  venue  in
which   performers   disrobe  or  perform  in  an  unclothed  state  for
entertainment, shall be a violation, as defined in subdivision three  of
section  10.00  of the penal law, subject to a fine of not more than one
hundred dollars, a second such violation shall be a violation subject to
a fine of not more than five hundred dollars, and a third or  subsequent
such  violation  shall  be  class B misdemeanor subject to a fine of not
more than one thousand dollars.