State Would Not Hand Over $288 Million Prize To Family Who Won The Lottery

Apr 23, 2019 by apost team

It now seems a state government is taking part in deceptive advertising practices.

Government officials in Illinois have been scrambling to avoid bankruptcy for a number of years now. The situation has resulted in a number of unintended consequences for citizens of the state. One particularly unfair consequence became high-profile news recently and involves the state lottery.

Despite the fact the state is presently running ads for citizens to take a chance at winning the lottery jackpot, it will not pay out $288 million that is owed to recent lottery winners. The families affected by the current developments as well as a lawyer representing these families recently laid out the facts of the situation in an interview with Inside Edition.

apost.com

Tom Zimmerman is the attorney representing the families and says this is not the first time he has seen this happen.

 Zimmerman says various winners are owed a total of $288 million. These winnings date back as long as three years. Zimmerman says the state did announce it would not pay out any winnings that equal more than $600. However, they continued to advertise the lottery jackpot as if the payout was available.

The conflict lies in the fact the advertisements for payouts were being aired by entities who were unaware the state would not make payments to winners. The statement by the state alerting interested parties that payouts would cease appeared in a number of media outlets but everyone was not aware of the situation. 

The situation is heartbreaking for people who are struggling and thought their lives would finally change.

Susan Rick was one of these winners and possessed a ticket that promised her winnings of $25,000. Susan shakes her head while saying 'we won.' She continued by explaining her and her family viewed the winnings as a way to add some comfort to their lives. She says it was a hurtful feeling when the state 'pulled the rug' out from under them.

Rhonda Rasche is another of the disgruntled Illinois state lottery winners. Rhonda is employed as a clerk in a hospital and possesses a ticket that says she is the winner of $50,000.

The worse story of the bunch may belong to a group of coworkers who are employed by the city of Chicago. The group joined a lottery pool and was ecstatic to win $1 million. But their smiles were soon turned upside down when they learned they would not receive the money they feel is owed to them.

The group of winners has filed a lawsuit against the state of Illinois. Attorney Zimmerman says it is unbelievable how the state is behaving in a way suggesting its own laws do not apply to them. Zimmerman explains that if a private entity committed the same acts as the state they would be shut down and possibly arrested.

Zimmerman also says the continuing airing of ads after the state decided to not make payouts to winners constitutes fraud.

He says the bottom line is the winners of the lottery deserve to be paid.

Do you think the state of Illinois is at fault in the current lottery scandal? Do you think the winners deserve to get paid? Send this article to everyone you know on social media. More people should be aware of this situation.