Illinois lottery situation worsens

The Illinois state lottery restrictions on lottery pay-outs (see previous reports) worsened Wednesday as the lottery announced a cap of $600 on winner pay-outs, and state Comptroller Leslie Geissler Munger said Illinois would skip a $560 million November pension payment.

Political feuding over the budget has hamstrung state agencies, which until a budget is approved, do not have legal authority to spend. The lottery has been at some pains to assure winners that the money is available and will be paid once the impasse in the state Legislature has been resolved.

“Payment delays will occur because there currently is no legal authority for the Illinois Comptroller or the Illinois Lottery to issue checks,” the Illinois Lottery said in a statement. “Please note that the funding to pay winners exists, but the legal authority to issue checks does not.”

The lottery said the payments will be made once a state budget is passed.

The lottery has been delaying payments to big winners since the current fiscal year started on July 1.

Initially, only winners who were set to get $25,000 or more were receiving IOUs.