Illinois Lottery winners receive IOU amid lack of budget: Report

Danny Chasteen and his girlfriend, Susan Rick, thought they had gotten their big break last month when Chasteen won $250,000 from the Illinois Lottery. Instead, they got an IOU.

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The Chicago Tribune reported that disbursements of Illinois Lottery winnings of more than $25,000 have been halted because the state doesn't have a budget.

Danny Chasteen, with his winning $250,000 lottery ticket in July. Chasteen said lottery officials told him they can't release the money because state lawmakers haven't passed a budget.

Source: Illinois lottery

"For the first time, we were finally gonna get a break," Rick said. "And now the Illinois Lottery has kind of messed everything up."

Under state law, checks for such winnings must be cut by the state comptroller's office and, since lawmakers have yet to approve a budget, the office cannot release those funds, the newspaper said.

"The lottery is a state agency like many others, and we're obviously affected by the budget situation," Steve Rossi, a Lottery spokesman, told the newspaper. "Since the legal authority is not there for the comptroller to disburse payments, those payments are delayed."

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