TENNESSE COULD LIMIT LOTTERY WINNINGS AT $ 600 FOR POOR
The Tennessee legislature has looked to make living difficult for those reeling under poverty. A committee hearing on Wednesday is likely to discuss a bill which would prevent anyone receiving federal or state assistance, usually called ‘welfare’ from winning $ 600 or excess in state lottery payments.
The legislature in Tennessee has considered a bill which would prohibit anyone receiving federal or state assistance from receiving more than $ 600 in state lottery. The main thinking involved behind the bill is that if someone fails to afford basic necessities and receives food stamps from federal government, then they need not spend money on anything like a lottery. On the other hand, people say that the government need not tell them how to spend their money.
The bill has not mentioned anything on preventing the unemployed from winning huge amounts in the lottery. It simply prevents people receiving public assistance from winning big - even while they have jobs.
Recent studies have concluded that the poor spend most percent of their income on lottery tickets than wealthier people. Portion of the draw is a last - ditch effort to get out of poverty, even if winning odds are extremely slim.
Preventing the indigent from receiving more than $ 600 may prevent more people from playing lottery, thereby bringing fewer revenues for states as they usually retain most of the money spent on the lottery.
The state fiscal review of Tennessee bill has revealed that the lottery sales may drop by 1,47,403 (2.37 % lesser players), if the law is passed. The total lottery ticket sales are expected to decrease by $ 23,972,100 in 2009 - 2010.
The state’s review has found that nearly fifty percent individuals who received food stamps from state purchase lottery tickets. Nearly half of them are expected to stop playing if the bill is passed. In case people stop playing, then Tennessee is slated to lose at least $ 6.4 million in grants and scholarships, which it provides each year from the proceeds.
However, for remaining 50 % of food stamp recipients (1,47,403 people) who continue to play lottery in spite of being prohibited from keeping $ 600 in winnings, the money would be taken by the state.
The Tennessee Education Lottery Corporation has reported that close to 11 % of the awarded prizes are for $ 600 or more. Hence, in case half the recipients of food stamps continue to play, and thus continue in donating the winnings to state, the school programs are expected to receive more than $ 1.3 million each year.
Till February, Tennessee has an unemployment rate of 9.1 % which leave 2,76,312 residents out of work. It is a population that is nearly equal to number of people in Tennessee which receive food stamps.
A legislator hopefully would not try to expand bill that prohibits large lottery winnings to those people who get state unemployment checks. Though remaining unemployed is difficult enough, remaining poor and unemployed is still worse.
TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS STILL IN WAIT FOR LOTTERY TICKET OWNER
There can be only one winner of $ 10,000 who stays in foothills or in an area close to Yuma. One amongst the eleven winning tickets in Arizona new lottery game was sold on the second of April at S Fortuna Road at Fry’s food store. On Thursday afternoon, the purchaser of ticket bought at Foothills grocery store had yet to claim her or his winnings, says Diana Diaz, the communications Director of Arizona lottery. The winning numbers were 2, 17, 7 and 26. In the game that was launched on March 26, players have to select four numbers from matrix of 26 numbers, as per the lottery. Such players whose $ 2 worth of tickets incorporates two amongst four winning numbers are slated to win $ 2. The remaining three winning numbers garner $ 25 prize while $ 10000 prize goes to the winner who hits all four numbers correctly.
No matter the number of players who select same sort of winning number combination, CA$H4 permits the winner of each grand prize to claim entire $ 10,000 as jackpot, irrespective of how many players select the same combination, notes Diaz. In other form of conventional drawing games, the first prize gets divided equally amongst players in case more than one selects the same sort of winning combination.
The winning ticket at Foothills was drawn on the second of April, the same day on which it was purchased, says Diaz. Right from the time when it began, the game has paid a total of $ 110,000 in prize amount to as many as ten players, one amongst who won the top prize twice in a span of five days.
As of Thursday, at least six amongst 11 winners had to claim the prize money, says Diaz. Since the drawings take place six days a week, CA$H players are encouraged to check the tickets on a regular basis, six days a week, from Monday to Saturday. These tickets could be purchased at those retail joints where one can sell lottery products.
Players of CA$H4 lottery can check the numbers by calling at www.arizonalottery.com. To redeem or purchase the tickets, players need to be at least 21 years of age.
CO-WORKERS SPLIT LOTTERY EARNINGS
Its 6.30 a.m. Wednesday. Robert Space gets to work at the Chubb Insurance Company, realizes the lottery ticket he held matched the winning numbers, and then fires off a one-line email to his remaining nine co-workers who too had pitched in to purchase it.
It read, “We won the big one”.
And instantly came the reply. Wrote one, Hahahaha. “GREAT. Where to pick up the cash?” joked another. It was when that they saw the winning ticket for themselves.
Robert Space and his fellow colleagues hit the second largest single ticket jackpot in the history of New Jersey, clinching $ 216 million in Mega Millions Jackpot.
Said Space, “I feel incredibly blessed and could hardly absorb it”, after he was surrounded by stunned colleagues, clutching a winning ticket at a press conference at the office at the Whitehouse Station of New Jersey town.
With $ 5 from each colleague, Space said he purchased 50 quick tickets on Monday afternoon in the shore Town of Toms River at the Singin Oil gas station.
Wednesday morning, space again stopped by the gas station to receive the printout of the winning numbers for checking the tickets.
Said Space, “I jokingly asked the attendant whether anyone had won and in case it was sold here, but he didn’t know,” said Space. Hence, he stuffed the list in the pocket.
It wasn’t till an hour or so that Space finally had the time to review his numbers. As he scanned each row, he grew increasingly shocked as the first, then the second, then the third and then all six numbers matched. He then called his wife to ensure he didn’t hallucinate and then sent the email.
When asked about the lottery winnings, Space says, “It takes a lot of stress out of life”. Space and his colleagues are believed to split the $ 216 million annuity amount or receive a single payout of about $ 140 million.
WISCONSIN LOTTERY PRIZE WORTH $ 40 MILLION STILL UNCLAIMED
In the past eleven years, lottery winners in Wisconsin have failed to stake claim to more than $ 38.3 million in prizes. Besides, another $ 3 million is likely to go as unclaimed in the current fiscal year, says spokesman Andrew Bohage.
He added to state that it did not include the unclaimed scratch-off winners. Lottery prizes need to be redeemed within a span of 180 days. After that period, any unclaimed money goes to property tax relief. Bohage further stays that he finds it difficult to pinpoint a single reason as to why the winnings were not claimed. However, he suspects that several players do not understand that there are prizes which are other than jackpots. For instance, the multistate game of Powerball offers several prizes that range from $ 7 to $ 2, 00,000 in order to match few of the six winning numbers. The same thing goes for the other games of lotto, such as badger 5, megabucks and super cash.
The moment the Powerball jackpots get increasingly big, people not really paying attention to games know necessarily about the prize levels, says Bohage. They start playing games as they think about jackpots, but don’t check the tickets.
Majority of winnings which are left to the states are in small amounts, though lesser than $ 10,000 go unclaimed each year, he says.
Bohage also says that some players may even forget to turn the tickets or lose track of their tickets before the deadline. On the other hand, the others don’t bother with the redemption of ticket for small rewards.
The previous years’ $ 3.57 million dollars in unclaimed winnings totaled to an amount below 2 percent of the $ 200 million in lotto sales, Bohage told Post Creston.
Owner of cellars spirits and wines in Neenah Leroy Schneidewend, a longtime retailer in lottery was surprised to note that a large amount of money went unclaimed. However, he said that he knew sometimes players got confused. He then recalled a customer who cashed in the super cash ticket.
On handing me the ticket, he said he had $ 5 winner, said Schneidewend. And, it came up as a winner of $ 500. It shook him a bit. Neenah’s Robert Ball said that he was careful to closely check his tickets to ensure he wasn’t throwing the money away. He still acknowledged, “I had tickets at home, but I haven’t checked it yet”.
J.G.WENTWORTH CREDIT RATINGS WITHDRAWN BY S&P
The Standard & Poor rating services have currently announced the withdrawal of counterparty credit and senior secured debt by J.G. Wentworth at their request. This announcement came in March 2009, especially after announcement by Wentworth that Deutsche Bank extended its “Standstill” agreement but before Wentworth’s March 31 deadline to pay approximately $ 6 million as quarterly interest on segregated corporate debt.
This standstill agreement relates to an unpaid earlier $ 16.9 million margin call on the credit line of Wentworth’s warehouse credit with Deutsche bank, used by Wentworth to purchase structured settlements.
Industry sources inform S2KM:-
- Subsequently, Wentworth missed the March 31 midnight deadline for paying the $ 6 million interest on general corporate debt although there exists a thirty day grace period.
- By announcing its own removal from S&P ratings, Wentworth helped prevent probable additional credit downgrade.
- The general $ 325 million corporate bonds are simply worthless and trading currently for pennies on dollar.
- Though the chief executive position is still retained by David Miller, an outside consultant for advice on debt-restructuring has been hired by Wentworth.
- The structured settlement asset-related securities issued already by Wentworth are separate legally from Wentworth and hence, they are not directly impacted by Wentworth’s corporate financial problems.
Announcement by Standard & Poor:-
In March 31, 2009, the Standard & Poor ratings services removed the ratings on the J.G. Wentworth LLC from CreditWatch, where they got placed with a negative implication on March 17, 2009. At around the same time, Wentworth’s senior secured ratings and CC counterplay credit ratings were assigned negative outlook. These subsequently got withdrawn at the company’s request.
This rating action follows an announcement call given by Wentworth that it received a Deutsche Bank extension in relation to waiver of $ 16.9 million margin call. This standstill agreement extension allows Wentworth to fund its business till April 22, without any further margin calls. Subsequent to the waiver expiry, the warehouse lender may have provided a notice of default, causing a cross-default on other Wentworth debts, including senior secured bank loan. In addition, Wentworth’s ability to continue operations is completely limited without economic assistance from JLL partners - private equity owners.