Illinois can’t pay its lottery winners

As former Democratic Rep. Barney Frank once famously said, “Government is simply the name we give to the things we choose to do together.”

But when it comes to playing (and winning) the lottery, the government in Illinois is sitting this one out.

Over the weekend, multiple new outlets began reporting that not-so-lucky big lottery winners in the Land of Lincoln are being told they have to wait if they want their payola. The state hasn’t arrived at a budget for the present fiscal year. And without one, nobody in government is allowed to cut the lottery winners their big checks.

“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,” Time reported Saturday.

That means anyone to whom the state owes more than $25,000 is essentially getting an IOU, backed by the full faith and credit of the State of Illinois.

“With lawmakers in Springfield still not budging on a budget agreement, big lottery winners, like Danny Chasteen, are out of luck for now,” WGN reported. “Instead of paying off his bills with the $250,000 he won last month, Chasteen got an ‘I-O-U.’”

WGN also quoted a state legislator who pegged the deadline for getting a budget passed as “maybe never.”

The money’s there, a Reuters report assures. But what difference does that make?

Lottery winner Susan Rick told the Chicago Tribune that if it were the citizen who owed the state money, the Illinois government would just “come and take, and they don’t care whether we have a roof over our head.”

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