Casino winnings seized from deadbeat parents

Posted: Jun 18, 2010 12:24 PM by Melissa Canone
Updated: Jun 18, 2010 12:36 PM

Press Release from Nick Gautreaux's Office: District 26 Senator Nick Gautreaux strongly believes that deadbeat parents who win big at Louisiana casinos should do the right thing and make good on their obligation to pay child support. To that end, he introduced Senate Bill 53 to allow the state to seize the casino winnings of a deadbeat parent when the winnings are $1200 or more and give the dollars to the families owed the child support. The legislature finally approved the measure with bill now headed to Governor Jindal for consideration.

"The way I look at it if a deadbeat parent can afford to gamble, they can afford to pay their court-ordered child support," Sen. Gautreaux. "We should make sure that we do everything possible to protect our children and families and this measure is another tool available to do that."

The bill requires the State Gaming Control Board to approve procedures for implementing the casino winnings seizure law by Jan. 1, 2011. The state will provide the casinos with a list of known deadbeat parents and the casinos will be allowed to keep $35 of the winnings as a processing fee. The $1200 threshold set out in the bill is the same level at which gamblers must report winnings to the Internal Revenue Service.

Department of Social Services officials say there are 144,000 parents who owe back child support in Louisiana totaling $1 billion. Lawmakers previously approved new laws to allow the state to seize the lottery and progressive slot machine winnings of a deadbeat parent. Sen. Gautreaux's Senate Bill 53 adds cash game winnings to the list.

Governor Jindal is expected to sign Senate Bill 53 since he included the proposal in his legislative package after Sen. Gautreaux proposed the measure.