Some Lottery Payments Will Be Delayed If We Don't Get A State Budget
By Stephen Gossett in News on Jun 28, 2017 7:12PM
If you happen to win big on the lottery in Illinois in the near future, the good news is that you will have won big on the lottery. The bad news? Don't expect to see those sweet winnings in any kind of timely manner if a state budget isn't reached.
The likelihood that you'll in fact rake in a jackpot is actually even more minuscule than usual. We learned about two weeks ago that sales of Mega Millions and Powerball tickets would go kaput throughout the state thanks to the never-ending budget stalemate. (Sales of Powerball tix end at 9 p.m. Wednesday, and Mega Millions sales stop Friday night.)
But if you were by some miracle able to score the big payday through one of the still-alive games after July 1—but a budget still hasn't passed—you'll be waiting. Wins of $25,000 will "experience a delay in payments for all games," the Illinois Lottery announced on Wednesday—though it didn't say how long those delays would extend.
“Players should be confident knowing the Illinois Lottery has the money to pay these winning claims,” Illinois Lottery Acting Director Greg Smith said in a release. “That means the General Assembly needs to approve a truly balanced budget that includes Lottery funding in order to ensure all prize payments will occur."
You know things are bad when the state is even too broke to swindle your money.
Although you might remember we've actually been down this road before. In 2015, nearly 4,000 people saw claims that totaled more than $112 million delayed (though they were eventually paid out), according to the Illinois Lottery.