The Trouble With The Lottery
The Illinois State Lottery is not currently paying out jackpots above $25,000 until the state budget is passed. There's not even an estimated time frame for the winners who are waiting for their payouts. As you can imagine, the winners have a problem with this.
Comments
Wow, I'd freak out completely over something like this! Good thing I never buy lottery tickets I guess.
Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 08/29/15 at 08:07 PM
Illinois is so messed up on many things. I though Michigan would be the first state to file bankruptcy because the city of Detroit did. Maybe Illinois will go the way of Greece. I wish I could owe millions/billions and just say sorry I can't pay it back. If you read your Social Security statement it says now on page one that you will only get sixty cents on the dollar you paid in (if that) because it is out of money. But we still have to pay those dollars in every paycheck.
Posted by BrokeDad in Midwest US on 08/29/15 at 08:40 PM
This lotto rip-off was SUPPOSED to be used for education. Then, the 'jack-pot' advertisement has NEVER been truthful.
Illinois could solve all it's problems in one fell swoop if they just cut Chicago loose to form it's own 51st state, fall into the lake, or blow itself up.
Illinois could solve all it's problems in one fell swoop if they just cut Chicago loose to form it's own 51st state, fall into the lake, or blow itself up.
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 08/30/15 at 01:27 AM
I can't read the linked article because the Chicago tribune insists I register to read their articles.
Is Illinois bankrupt, or is it just that they haven't passed a budget. because there's a huge difference between those.
If you read the fine print, the Jackpot announcements are "truthful", although they could also be fairly called "misleading": every one I've seen notes in fine print that it is an estimate, and the actual jackpot depends on how many tickets were sold.
As John Oliver pointed out on his show (clip available on YouTube), while the money was earmarked for education, giving the government money for one purpose is kind of like peeing in a swimming pool: you may think it's all going to stay in one place, but everything in there gets mixed together. Most states that did a "lottery goes to education" thing then cut money going to education from other sources, meaning the lottery didn't provide "more money for education" but rather more money for other things. Notably, cutting corporate taxes.
Is Illinois bankrupt, or is it just that they haven't passed a budget. because there's a huge difference between those.
If you read the fine print, the Jackpot announcements are "truthful", although they could also be fairly called "misleading": every one I've seen notes in fine print that it is an estimate, and the actual jackpot depends on how many tickets were sold.
As John Oliver pointed out on his show (clip available on YouTube), while the money was earmarked for education, giving the government money for one purpose is kind of like peeing in a swimming pool: you may think it's all going to stay in one place, but everything in there gets mixed together. Most states that did a "lottery goes to education" thing then cut money going to education from other sources, meaning the lottery didn't provide "more money for education" but rather more money for other things. Notably, cutting corporate taxes.
Posted by SpyOne on 09/06/15 at 09:45 PM
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