Two lottery winners have filed a class action lawsuit against the Illinois Lottery for failing to pay prize money due to the lack of an Illinois budget. The plaintiffs are two of at least 29 people in Illinois who were looking forward to collecting winnings before the state’s budget freeze.
“The State is not paying prize money to people who won over $25,000, yet the State is continuing to sell Lottery tickets with potential winnings in excess of $25,000,” the lawsuit filed Wednesday states.
According to Thomas A. Zimmerman, Jr., attorney for the plaintiffs, “People buying Lottery tickets assume that a State-run lottery will be fair. The State has the prize money on deposit in the Lottery Fund, yet it is refusing to pay Lottery winners. Meanwhile, the State is earning interest on the unpaid prize money.”
Rich Carter, press secretary for Illinois Comptroller Leslie Munger’s office states that the lottery can’t pay without a state budget. “Without a budget, we can’t, by law, make any payments on an appropriated fund without a court order or consent decree or statutory continuing appropriation,” said Carter.
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