Illinois lottery players could no longer be able to purchase Mega Millions or Powerball tickets soon due to the legislation’s refusal to deliver a balanced budged. The association that runs the afore-mentioned games will stop offering its products in the state unless the ongoing budget deadlock is resolved until the end of the month. Otherwise, the Powerball and Mega Millions games will become unavailable at the end of June.
The Multi-State Lottery Association which offers the two games, is a non-profit association which is currently operated by 36 member lotteries. The profits accumulated are kept by the state lottery and are headed to projects that have got the approval of state legislatures. At present times, however, the Illinois Lottery is not part of the Association.
To date, Mega Millions game is offered in a total of 44 states, as well as in the District of Columbia and the US Virgin Islands. Powerball, on the other hand, is available in 44 states, and in Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia.
The eventual drop of the games was confirmed by the Illinois Lottery spokesman Jason Schaumburg, who said that they will no longer be available without a state budget. According to the information presented by him, Powerball game would be suspended after the drawing on June 28th, while Mega Millions game would be closed for local players after the June 30th drawing in case that a budget deal is not agreed.
Mr. Schaumburg revealed that the association which runs the two games has been discussing the matter with the state’s authorities for about two years now, but this is the first time when actions have actually been taken on the matter.
The spokesman of the Illinois Lottery also said that the problem came as a perfect example why a balanced budged needs to be delivered by the General Assembly to the Governor of the state. This is the latest blow suffered by the suffering state lottery which has been put under fire over the last few years as it failed to pay its winners.
Within the 2016 budget year, the state of Illinois reported Mega Millions sales amounting to $99.4 million. The Powerball sales, on the other hand, amounted to $208 million. There was no available information about the revenue generated by the state from the two games ticket sales.
As mentioned above, the announcement for the eventual lottery games drop was not the first time when problems have occurred between the state of Illinois and the multi-state games. Back in 2015, state finance law violations have been found by the Illinois auditor general that announced a prepaid payment of $20 million had been made by lottery officials in order to cover the costs of future multi-state games.
The budget deadlock was looming back then, too, and without a budget in place, the state is not allowed to make payments to the Multi-State Lottery Association or the games.
- Author
Daniel Williams
