As if Illinois didn't have enough to worry about between an imminent downgrade to junk (as soon as July 1), soaring debt costs, insolvent pension funds, and roads that may soon resemble the lunar surface, today in the latest insult to a relentless series of injuries, the lottery itself, including the popular Powerball and Mega Millions, is set to dump Illinois because the state literally can't afford to payout winners.
As we pointed out a few weeks ago, Illinois Lottery spokesman Jason Schaumburg confirmed that the association has had discussions since 2015 about dropping Illinois, but this is the first time the group has taken action. He called it “another example of why the General Assembly needs to deliver a balanced budget to the governor."
According to WGN9, Powerball sales in Illinois will be cut off tonight and Mega Millions will follow on Friday.
Here is what the suspension of ticket sales means for Powerball...
- Powerball sales in Illinois will be suspended at 9:00 p.m. June 28, 2017.
- All Powerball tickets purchased before that cut-off time will be valid tickets.
- All active Powerball subscriptions will be cancelled after the last draw on June 28. The Lottery will issue refunds to players for the remaining length of their subscriptions.
- When a Fiscal Year 2018 appropriation for the Illinois Lottery is passed, the Lottery will work with the Multi-State Lottery Association to determine a path for the return of Powerball sales. The timing is unknown.
- No other Illinois Lottery games will be suspended.
...and Mega Millions:
- Mega Millions sales in Illinois will be suspended at 9:45 p.m. June 30, 2017.
- All Mega Millions tickets purchased before that cut-off time will be valid tickets.
- All active Mega Millions subscriptions will be cancelled after the last draw on June 30. The Lottery will issue refunds to players for the remaining length of their subscriptions.
- When a Fiscal Year 2018 appropriation for the Illinois Lottery is passed, sales for Mega Millions will resume.
- No other Illinois Lottery games will be suspended.
Of course, while Powerball and Mega Millions are seemingly uncomfortable with the ability to Illinois to fund payouts, the state will continue to operate its own lotteries. And, why not, ponzi schemes always work out for the operators...particularly when they're actually legal.
But don't worry, Illinois Lottery Acting Director Greg Smith would like for you to know that “players should be confident knowing the Illinois Lottery has the money to pay these winning claims"...which is true for anyone who wins less than $25,000...win more than that and you will "experience a delay in payments due to the Comptroller’s inability to make payments on behalf of the Lottery without an appropriation."
Here are more details on how the state's own games will work going forward:
- Players should not delay claiming a winning ticket.
- Valid claims of more than $25,000 will experience a delay in payments due to the Comptroller’s inability to make payments on behalf of the Lottery without an appropriation.
- Players with valid claims of any amount who owe money to the state (via an “offset”) will experience a delay in payments due to the Comptroller’s inability to make payments on behalf of the Lottery without an appropriation.
- At this time, the Illinois Lottery will continue to pay valid claims of $25,000 or less at any of the five Lottery Prize Centers located throughout Illinois – Chicago, Des Plaines, Fairview Heights, Rockford and Springfield.
- Prizes of $600 or less will continue to be paid at the Lottery’s nearly 8,000 retail partners.
According to the Sun Times, Illinois reported $99.4 million in Mega
Millions sales and $208 million in Powerball sales within the 2016
budget year. It’s unclear how much revenue the state got from the sale
of those tickets.
The Multi-State Lottery Association is a
non-profit, government-benefit association owned and operated by its 36
member lotteries. All profits are retained by the state lottery and are
used to fund projects approved by the state legislatures, according to
the association. The Illinois Lottery isn’t part of the association.
Of course, maybe Smith is right and Illinois has plenty of money to payoff lottery winners. So go ahead and play on...just ignore that recent surge in Illinois GO debt yields...
.... and the threat of a default in the face of almost $15 billion in unpaid bills.
In fact, maybe Rahm should just go ahead and dump whatever liquidity the failing City of Chicago has left into tonight's last Powerball drawing...can't be much worse than what they're already doing with the money.
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