Do you think public assistance recipients' (i.e. welfare recipients) money belongs to them personally or belongs to the public?

There was an article today on AOL about California and Michigan reporting that it was discovered that welfare money was being used in casinos. The article reported that some people were unhappy with that.

Do you think that when someone receives public assistance benefits (in other words, “welfare”) the money belongs to them or should the general public (in other words “taxpayers”) have a say so in how that money is spent, since that money comes from the taxpayer, essentially?