by WorldTribune Staff, December 1, 2025 Real World News
More than 5,000 liquor stores and smoke shops are approved retailers under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), new research shows.
The Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA), in a study published on Monday, found that more than 4,000 stores which accept SNAP promoted alcohol in their title and another 1,000 did so for tobacco.
Food stamps legally cannot be used for purchases of either alcohol or tobacco.
“The FGA says the prevalence of stores that sell these products raises concerns about the potential for different kinds of SNAP fraud,” Just the News reported.
These stores “become hotbeds of fraud” where benefit cards are bought and sold in exchange for alcohol or tobacco products, Senior Data Analyst at FGA Kristi Stahr told Just the News.
“Food stamps are meant to provide supplemental nutrition for vulnerable populations: low-income kids, the elderly, and people with disabilities,” said Michael Greibrok, Senior Research Fellow at FGA. “Letting smoke shops and liquor stores cash in on the program is not the safety net taxpayers envisioned and only funnels assistance away from the truly needy.”
“At best, places to buy your weekend six-pack and vape are unlikely to provide much nutritional value. At worst, smoke shops and liquor stores are ripe targets for scammers and fraud schemes. Keeping them on the ‘authorized retailers’ list makes defrauding and fleecing federal taxpayers easier and sends the wrong message to hardworking Americans,” Greibrok said.
According to FGA’s study, more than 70% of all food stamp traffickers are convenience stores like the liquor and smoke shops found in its research and about half of all liquor and smoke shops identified in the study were approved as retailers during the Biden Administration.
The Trump Administration says it is cracking down on fraud in the SNAP program to ensure any government assistance is used for healthy and nutritional foods, not junk.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act made specific changes to qualifying for the program, as well as a redefined list of products for which SNAP cannot be used.
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