Related Articles

• Four Peterborough Households Have Scooped £30,000 Lottery Jackpot 0 01.Aug
• $0.8 Million Cash 5 Jackpot Won in Northampton County 0 14.Nov
• $25 million Mega Millions went without a jackpot winner 0 25.Oct

A new program allows New York State to claw back $20 million from winners who have received public assistance since 2013. Over the last four year, this program has grabbed back prizes from approximately 30,000 winners.

There are at least six states that have a similar program, experts say. However, only New York seizes the prize of winners on public assistance. All other programs take back unpaid taxes or unpaid child support payments.

A lot of people raised their eyebrows when Republicans unveiled their proposal in the House of Representatives. New York Upstate reported that annual claw amount was rising from $4.9 million in 2014 to $5.7 million last year.

Here’s how it works

Every lottery player who wins prizes above $6000 can only receive their prizes at State Lottery centers. There, his/her Social Security numbers are processed to check if they’ve received public assistance over the last 10 years. And, if they have, then the State can seize up to 50% of winner’s payout. It is done to help pay back what they have gotten in welfare. However, the State cannot take back more than what the winner received in welfare.

On the contrary, the welfare winners can claim if they believe that they are wrongly penalized. According to the state Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, in 2016, winners won 476 appeals out of 667.

Apart from this, the lottery buying public is increasingly aware of this reclamation project. Some winners even take help of proxies, who aren’t on social assistance records, to claim their winning prize. Many players engage in such crimes or foul practices. But New York authorities are also adapting various new ways and techniques in cracking down such cases. In June, the state’s Gaming Commission and Department of Tax and Finance caught a pair of schemers. They were trying to redeem a combined 777 lottery ticket won individually. The individuals were receiving social assistance.