Posted on 08/30/2015 9:33:59 PM PDT by sparklite2
Without a state budget agreement two months into the new fiscal year, there’s no authority for the state comptroller to cut checks over $25,000. That means smaller winnings can be paid out, but not the larger lottery wins.
Susan Rick, who lives in Oglesby, Illinois, planned home fix-ups and a visit to her daughter after her boyfriend won $250,000 last month. But they were told to wait.
Rick tells the Chicago Tribune that if the situation were reversed, the state would “come take it, and they don’t care whether we have a roof over our head.”
Lottery spokesman Steve Rossi says state lottery, like every other state agency, is “affected by the budget situation.”
(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...
When the mob ran the numbers, they knew it was good business to pay the winners. Illinois must have seen the Indian casinos getting away with not paying jackpot winners because of ‘machine malfunctions’.
Who would play a lottery where winning tickets don’t get paid?
There’s a word for people who don’t pay up...”Welchers.”
Dat be some funny-ass sh*t.
That’s why anyone who wins a lottery and has an option of one lump sum vs an annuity would be a fool to take the annuity. You are relying on the trustworthiness and solvency of a government agency or government run enterprise. No way. Absolutely no way. Take the lump sum.
You have to be really incompetent to fail with a legalized gambling enterprise.
And on top of that, it is illegal for honest businesses to run their own lottery. Apparently only the crooks can run lotteries.
If I ever win the lottery I will take the lump sum payment not the annuity.
This is really gonna bump future ticket sales upwards.
They have toll booths every five feet on the freeway.
Enough with Illinois lawyers! Their sell-by date was 1865-04-15.
Illinois combiner politicians and their cronies in cushy government appointed jobs apparently haven't gotten the memo that they're supposed to be “affected by the budget situation”, since they have no problems getting full time "work" on a weekly basis, and having their six figure salary paychecks arrive promptly on time.
Come to think of it, all those construction workers (who have also had endless "work" this summer to "fix" roads that aren't broken) aren't affected by situation, either.
As Mel Brooks said, it’s good to be the king!
Gov. Rauner defends paying staff more than Quinn
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-top-rauner-staff-more-highly-paid-than-quinns-20150130-story.html
Remember that article the next time Rauner whines about how he has to kill funding for autistic kids and cops, because of the states “dire” financial situtition.
Am I reading this wrong?
The article seems to me to be saying not that there are insufficient funds, but that due to a $25k limit without a budget, they can’t legally cut the checks. No indication that that would continue once a budget was in place. No indication that they don’t have an account accumulating funds with which to pay these large winners.
There are no funds because Gov. Rauner and the House and Senate are at an in pass.
You trust govt? You get royally screwed every time. See how that works?
That’s droll.
I used to work at a convenience store where we sold lottery tickets. (Ohio) Each month the state would send the company a check for each store in it’s chain a percentage of what that store sold for the month. It was supposed to go for education, but to my knowledge, it hasn’t. Why else would local cities keep putting levies on the voting ballots if so much money was coming from this fraudulent enterprise. To top that off - the state also sponsors gambler’s anonymous groups. Wow - just wow!
Really incompetent? I recall for you that the Feds took over a Nevada brothel on a tax beef and could not make a go of it
One of the FIRST RULES of government that is taught at the Kennedy School (Harvard) is that the LAST THING you mess with is something that is revenue positive. So if cops are bringing in more money writing tickets than it costs to have them working, you DO NOT MESS WITH THEM.
So, here, Illinois may have some short-term gain by not paying on their lottery obligations...but watch what happens to ticket sales as people realize that winning the lottery doesn’t necessarily get them a dime.
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