Lottery winners in Illinois may have hit the jackpot - but they have not been paid.
The state recently announced that it was not paying out any winnings worth more than $600 until its budget crisis is resolved - but it's still running TV ads promoting the lottery.
An attorney representing some of the winners, Tom Zimmerman, has said there is a staggering $288 million in winnings waiting to be paid out.
One winner, Susan Rick, told INSIDE EDITION: “We won. We finally can have a comfortable life. Suddenly you're gonna the rug out from underneath us. We had a ticket for $250,000.”
A group of Chicago city employees had joined a lotto pool and won a million dollars - but they still haven’t seen a penny of it either.
Rhonda Rasche, a 49-year-old hospital clerk, said that after winning $50,000 in a scratch-off lotto, officials told her she'd receive a check in the mail in four to six weeks. That was a few months ago.
“I've been waiting for a check for $50,000,” she said.
Read: Lotto Winner Blew Through $27 Million, Leaves Daughter Broke
Rhonda has joined the other lotto winners who are suing to get their money.
Zimmerman, their attorney, said: “If any private business would engage in this kind of conduct selling tickets and not paying out the winner. The state would shut them down and indict them for fraud."
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