A budget impasse in Illinois has forced the state to suspend lottery payments to anyone winning more than $600, officials announced Wednesday.
Lottery wins of more than $25,000 were already receiving IOUs as of July 1, but that threshold dropped
significantly on Wednesday to $600, USA Today reported.
“Payment delays will occur because there currently is no legal authority for the Illinois Comptroller or the Illinois Lottery to issue checks,” the Illinois Lottery said in a statement. “Please note that the funding to pay winners exists, but the legal authority to issue checks does not.”
Two winners after that July 1 cut-off, one for $50,000 and the other for $250,000, filed a class action lawsuit in September against the Illinois Lottery.
The government has reached a stalemate with little action occuring between Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and the Democratic-controlled Illinois General Assembly, the newspaper said.
"If I was the one selling raffle tickets and I didn't pay, I would be sued or in jail or both," Rhonda Rasche, one of the
winners who filed the lawsuit, told the Chicago Tribune.
Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" dispatched a crew to Illinois this week and interviewed Danny Chasteen, the $250,000 winner who filed the lawsuit, and his girlfriend,
Susan Rick, mywebtimes.com reported.
"I'm working basically seven days a week and doing overtime to get the bills paid," Rick said. "Those lottery winnings were the answers to our prayers." The couple was planning to use the money to pay bills and work on their home.
The Illinois lottery's failure to pay was prime fodder for the Internet:
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