Families in Illinois are outraged after the state has failed to pay their lottery winnings.
According to an attorney representing some of the winners, Tom Zimmerman, the state has yet to pay out $288 million in winnings, Inside Edition reported.
The state announced that it was not paying out any winnings worth more than $600 until its budget crisis is resolved. Ironically, it’s still running TV ads promoting the lottery.
One lotto winner, Rhonda Rasche, a 49-year-old hospital clerk is waiting to collect the $50,000 she won on a $3 scratch-off ticket.
“I feel like my balloon was kind of deflated,” Rasche told reporters at a press conference. “I wasn’t totally banking on the money but it was pretty crushing. I just feel like it’s totally unfair.”
“If I was the one selling raffle tickets and I didn’t pay, I would be sued or in jail or both.”
Another winner, Susan Rick, told Inside Edition: “We won. We finally can have a comfortable life. Suddenly you’re gonna the rug out from underneath us. We had a ticket for $250,000.”
A group of Chicago city employees had joined a lotto pool and won a million dollars, but, like other lotto winners, they still haven’t seen a penny of it either.
Zimmerman stated, “If any private business would engage in this kind of conduct, selling tickets and not paying out the winner, the state would shut them down and indict them for fraud.”
With this, they’ve filed a federal lawsuit against the Illinois Lottery, which is continuing to sell tickets, even though it doesn’t have the authority to pay off anyone who wins more than $25,000.
The lawsuit filed by attorney Zimmerman, Jr. on behalf of Rasche and co-plaintiff Danny Chasten — who is due $250,000 from a winning ticket in July — alleges Illinois Lottery officials are committing fraud by continuing to advertise and sell games even though they know they can’t pay off winners of more than $25,000.
The suit seeks to force the payment of people who win more than $25,000 with 5 percent interest. It also asks that nobody who works for the Illinois Lottery, or the private company that manages it, get a dime in pay until the winners get what’s owed them.
Beyond the allegation of fraud — advertising what the Illinois Lottery can deliver — the problem is both legislative and bureaucratic.
Watch the video report here:
Sources: AmericaNews, Inside Edition