Lawsuit Seeks To Make Illinois Lottery Pay $288,425,000 Owed To WinnersState Currently Giving IOUs And Is Committing Fraud, Suit Says |
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A class action lawsuit on behalf of lottery winners the state of Illinois is not paying was filed this week in federal court. Everyone with prizes greater than $25,000 are getting IOUs from the state, and the winners have began claiming fraud.
“Due to the ongoing budget situation in Springfield, some lottery winner payments have been delayed. All winners will be paid in full as soon as the Lottery and the Illinois Comptroller have the legislative authority to do so. Currently, winners may claim prizes under $600 at any of our 8,000 retail locations, and prizes under $25,000 may be claimed at any Lottery claims center, found at illinoislottery.com,” the Illinois Lottery said late last month in a public statement.
According to the lawsuit, a $262 million Mega Millions jackpot split between two winners has only resulted in an IOU, with more than $288 million in total being owed to players.
The lawsuit alleges that winners may never get their money if a court doesn’t intervene:
“The attempts to render contingent the distribution of the Lottery winnings upon the passage of the budget means that it is quite realistic that the winners may never receive their money, as the budget is not close to being passed and the State of Illinois is operating under a ‘new normal’ without a budget.”
The lawsuit also said that Illinois continues to sell tickets that offer prizes greater than $25,000, even though the state has no intention of paying them at present. The state is also not being transparent, the suit alleges, by not informing customers that it won’t pay if they win.
The lawsuit wants the Illinois Lottery to immediately stop selling these tickets.
Below is a copy of the lawsuit obtained by Card Player.
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