§ 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.