You Might Have To Stop Playing Powerball And Mega Millions If We Don't Pass A Budget Soon
By Mae Rice in News on Jun 15, 2017 4:30PM
If Illinois doesn't pass a budget by the end of the month, it's not only roadwork that will cease—the state will also get dropped by Mega Millions and Powerball.
The association that runs both games, the non-profit Multi-State Lottery Association (MSLA), has threatened to drop Illinois at the end of June unless the state at long last passes a budget, the Sun-Times reports.
The MSLA is owned and operated by its 36 member lotteries. The Illinois Lottery isn’t part of the association, but the state still earns some amount of revenue from sales of Mega Millions and Powerball tickets—which were in the hundreds of millions in 2016, the Sun-Times reports.
We'll always have the Illinois lottery, but it's not like that's a powerhouse of stability, particularly. Remember early in the budget crisis, when they were giving jackpot-winners IOUs?
The Illinois Lottery issued the following statement:
It is disappointing that the Legislature’s inability to pass a budget has led to this development and will result in Illinois Lottery players being denied the opportunity to play these popular games. This is why it's so critical the General Assembly deliver a balanced budget to the governor's desk that he can sign.[H/T Sun-Times]