Just Because You Have A Winning Lottery Ticket Doesn't Mean You're Getting Money

Maybe money’s tight for you these days so you play the lotto, maybe the Daily 4 game. Then you win and the payout is so much — $600 — you have to take the ticket to a claims office in Houston to get your check.

That was Jesse Phillips’s situation last week until a worker at the claims office took his winning ticket and refused to give him any money.

“For the State of Texas to do something like this is absolutely petty, and the government is sick for allowing something like this to happen,” says Phillips, who works for the county as a building inspector. “If the lottery people go along with it, they’re just as sick as the state.”

Phillips tells Hair Balls that he didn’t get his check because he’s
accused of owing the Texas Workforce Commission $2100 from about 27
years ago. In 1998, the Houston Press wrote a story about Phillips that mentions his dispute with the state. Basically, Phillips was laid
off from his job and collected unemployment, but made about $136
working as a security guard for one week. When Phillips mentioned that
income to the Workforce Commission, it tried to make him pay back all
the unemployment money. But, he says, the final judgment was for
Phillips to repay only the $136, which he did.

“That was the last I heard of it,” Phillips says.

The alleged debt showed up in a state database that workers at a claims
office are required to check before handing over money. (Check a list
of reasons you wouldn’t get paid here).

“If you’re in the comptroller system as having a debt to the state…the
prize money would automatically be applied to the debt,” says Robyn
Smith, a spokeswoman with the Texas Lottery. “It’s all essentially
coming from and going to the state.”

Weird thing is, Phillips says he hit a $2,500 jackpot in the Daily 4
earlier this year and cashed in the ticket on February 17. No problems.

There’s not much of an explanation for that, because Smith says no one
at a claims office has the authority to override a flag in the
database. A worker could theoretically ignore the flag, which,
according to Smith, would be breaking the law.

Whatever the reason, Phillips didn’t get his $600, and even if he’s
right and the state is wrong, he’ll have to wait at least a couple
months before he finds out, if he can at all. He has to get his records
from the Workforce Commission to prove there’s no debt, but, trouble
is, someone with the commission told him the records are usually only
kept for 10 years.

Smith says that Phillips can file a complaint with the Lottery Commission, and it will investigate.

“It’s kind of like they’re twisting my arm right now,” Phillips says.
“Of course, if I was to win another lottery, someone else will be
cashing it.”