Recently an Illinois woman realized her dream of winning that state’s lottery. With nearly one million dollars in hand after taxes, did this woman perhaps quit her job to indulge in a carefree life of pleasure? No she did not. It turns out that she had no job to quit. She was in fact on the public welfare roll in the state of Illinois, receiving food assistance in the amount of $200 each month, among other entitlements. After taxes, Amanda Clayton still came out with over $700,000. So maybe she had no job to quit, but at least she got off the public welfare rolls, right? Umm…no, she did not, and has not.
This is at least the second incidence of an Illinois Lottery winner being on state welfare rolls. And as outrageous as it seems, there are no provisions in Illinois law requiring lottery winners to be removed from such entitlement programs. Apparently this loophole exists in most other states’ laws as well. Illinois law DOES require welfare recipients to report any changes in their income or financial status, but, in this case, state officials rather candidly pointed out that welfare agencies rarely take affirmative steps to monitor recipients for unreported changes in status. In other words, it is Ms. Clayton’s responsibility as a good citizen to report her good fortune to the powers that be. Not surprisingly, however, Ms. Clayton is in no hurry to revise her welfare status.
A reporter caught up with Ms. Clayton outside her home (I mean ONE of her homes) and asked her questions along the line of why she was still in the welfare program now that she was a wealthy lottery winner. He specifically asked her if she still felt entitled to her welfare benefits, to which Ms. Clayton replied, “I kind of do.” She went on to say, “I thought that they would cut me off, but since they didn’t, I thought maybe it was OK because I’m not working. I feel that it’s OK since I have no income and I have bills to pay. I have two houses.” (Emphasis mine)
There are a couple of troubling things about Ms. Clayton. First, she appears to continue to have a sense of entitlement. That is, no matter how much money she may receive, whether in a lottery, in some settlement, or maybe just a huge gift from her friends, she has no “income” because she does not “work.” I suppose if she had won one of those “Super Power Ball” lotteries, with prizes in the triple digit millions, she would still have no “income.”
At the same time, we are all left to wonder why she does not work. I am trying to be non-judgmental here. Maybe she has some handicap. Maybe she is taking care of her mother, who apparently resides with her. Whatever the case, Ms. Clayton does not “work.” So, in spite of having over half a million dollars, Ms. Clayton is so concerned about her ability to buy food that she still needs the $200 food entitlement. I guess that if she went grocery shopping and accidentally spent $700,001, she should certainly be able to depend on her state dole to pay the extra dollar.
The other troubling thing about Ms. Clayton is that she gives one the impression that she will probably not go out of her way to make sure that the Illinois welfare agency knows she won the lottery. This may be a moot point, however, since the entire nation is now aware of her recent good fortune. But remember, the Illinois state welfare official already let us know that his agency would not make much of an effort to find out if any particular welfare recipient’s financial condition had changed. If the welfare office does not update Ms. Clayton’s financial status, would she do the right thing on her own? Would she voluntarily have herself removed from the Illinois welfare tab? Should she do so?
I have to admit that my first reaction was, “Of course she should report her new found wealth immediately, and ask that she be removed from the welfare rolls.” But upon thinking it over a little more calmly, I could see that it might be proper to consider all Ms. Clayton’s financial and social circumstances before making such a judgment. The Illinois Legislature apparently thinks so as well. They are working on a bill at the moment that would provide for the examination of any welfare recipient’s eligibility for continued entitlements should that person win any lottery prize worth over one thousand dollars. This is a step in the right direction, although the bill has been pending for over a year now. By the way, why is a welfare recipient playing the lottery in the first place? That is a subject for another blog.
Let us presume that a welfare recipient somehow had the means to play the lottery at other than taxpayer expense. If the person won $1,000 or even $5,000, chances are slim that this in itself would be enough to end the person’s need for (or dependence on) the welfare dole. On the other hand, a person who won a large prize, such as a $1,000,000 super-prize, should probably be taken off the welfare rolls. I suppose an exception would be if the winner owed $1,000,000 in medical bills or some other expense. If the person were legally obligated to pay off the debt with lottery winnings, that person would still essentially be “broke” and therefore still eligible for welfare even though technically a “millionaire.”
It is inevitable that a welfare recipient will win the lottery again in one state or another. While it may be that we could depend on most lottery winners to voluntarily update their status with their respective welfare agencies, there would still be some who would “omit” their status update. For these people, a system of cross-checking lottery winners with welfare recipients would insure that they were caught and charged with welfare fraud. They could then use their lottery winnings to pay for their criminal defense, thus saving taxpayer money that would have been expended for that purpose.
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