Illinois cancels lottery games

Illinois authorities have decided to cancel two lottery games as the state is currently under a budget crisis.

US.- The Illinois Lottery has announced that two popular games will no longer be available due to a state budget crisis. Powerball and Mega Millions will be out of service until authorities solve the current financial hole.

Greg Smith, Illinois Lottery Acting Director, said: “Players should be confident knowing the Illinois Lottery has the money to pay these winning claims. That means the General Assembly needs to approve a truly balanced budget that includes lottery funding in order to ensure all prize payments will occur.” Payments for winnings worth more than US$25.000 could be delayed, as the authorities said. UPI reported that the suspension of these two games could end up hurting the state because they have been providing the state US$92 million in revenue for social causes like funding for public schools.

Bill Fleischli, from the Illinois Association of Convenience Stores, said: “The last time lottery sales were suspended, the border communities lost 42 percent of their lottery sales, and it took them five or six months before they ever got 90 percent of them back. Players don’t understand lottery retailers can still give up to US$600 in our store, but they don’t understand. They think the lottery is not going to pay them, and their ticket will be no good and they’ll get into a buying habit of going someplace else.”