Cashless welfare card rolled out in SA

The trial of a cashless welfare card will help tackle problem gambling, and drug and alcohol abuse in a remote South Australian community, its mayor says.

About 20 per cent of residents in and around Ceduna on the Eyre Peninsula's west coast will begin using the card from Tuesday.

It holds up to 80 per cent of fortnightly payments and acts like any other eftpos card but without the ability to withdraw cash.

"We don't think it's satisfactory that some of our citizens are using 100 per cent of their funds to purchase alcohol or to gamble," Ceduna Mayor Allan Suter told AAP.