Politics & Government
No Budget, No Powerball Or Mega Millions In Illinois
The popular lottery games will no longer be offered in the state after the end of the month because of Illinois' fiscal crisis.
Illinois residents who regularly play Powerball and Mega Millions will have to cross state lines to get their lottery fix after the organization that operates the games said it was pulling them from the state at the end of the month if lawmakers don't pass a budget, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. Illinois Lottery officials say the nonprofit Multi-State Lottery Association, which runs Powerball and Mega Millions, has been threatening to drop the state because of its fiscal crisis as far back as 2015, the report added.
In the state's 2016 fiscal year, $208 million in Powerball tickets were sold in Illinois, and Mega Millions had $99.4 million in sales, the report stated. But it's not known how much of the money went into state coffers, the report added. The association says the revnue Illinois does receive from those lottery games pays for state-approved projects, the Sun-Times reports. (Get Patch real-time email alerts for the latest Palatine news. And iPhone users: Check out Patch's new app.)
But there is still a chance Powerball and Mega Millions will stay in the state. On Thursday, Gov. Bruce Rauner called for a special 10-day legislative session to pass a budget plan. The session would run from June 21 to June 30, the end of the state's budget year. Rauner's special sesion announcement follows the Illinois Department of Transportation informing contractors that, beginning July 1, it will be suspending construction work until a budget is passed.
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Powerball and Mega Millions are in 44 states, as well as Washington, D.C., and the US Virgin Islands (Powerball also is offered in Puerto Rico). The Illinois Lottery is not a member of the Multi-State Lottery Association, which is made up of 36 member lotteries, the report stated.
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