As New Mexico Health Care Authority officials try to avoid a massive federal penalty by reducing errors in the state’s management of the federal Supplement Nutrition Assistance Program, they are increasingly seeking data to help verify that every SNAP dollar goes to people who need it.
The authority’s latest target for that data collection is slot machine gambling.
HCA officials, along with ones at the New Mexico Gaming Control Board, told Source NM they are in the early stages of establishing a data-sharing agreement that will alert the authority if a SNAP recipient collects substantial winnings at slot machines in one of five racetrack casinos or several dozen small gambling halls across the state.
