Big-time Illinois Lottery winners aren't getting the largesse, they're getting left out.
Without a state budget agreement two months into the new fiscal year, there's no authority for the state comptroller to cut checks over $25,000. Smaller amounts are being disbursed.
Susan Rick, who lives in Oglesby, Illinois, planned home fix-ups and a visit to her daughter after her boyfriend, Danny Chasteen, won $250,000 last month. But they were told to wait.
Rick tells the Chicago Tribune that if the situation were reversed, the state would ``come take it and they don't care whether we have a roof over our head.''
Lottery spokesman Steve Rossi says the state agency, like every other one, is ``obviously affected by the budget situation.''