Winners will be unable to claim prizes during shutdown
OLYMPIA, Wash. — Washington's Lottery will suspend all operations if lawmakers can't pass the state's operating budget by midnight on Friday, June 30, 2017.
That means no Lottery tickets will be sold, and no winning tickets will be redeemed in the state of Washington for any game until the shutdown is over.
This includes Scratch games, jackpot games and multi-state jackpot games such as Powerball and Mega Millions.
Washington's Lottery will also not conduct any jackpot game drawings during the shutdown period. This includes drawings for Match 4, Daily Game, Daily Keno, Lotto or Hit 5.
During suspended operations, players who have a winning ticket should sign the back of the ticket and keep it in a secure location. Once Washington's Lottery services are restored, players will be able to redeem winning tickets.
The Lottery is just one of many state-run programs that will be suspended if a budget deal isn't reached.
Notices went out last week to about 32,000 state workers warning them they will be temporarily laid off if a budget is not in place by the deadline. A partial shutdown would affect everything from community supervision of offenders on probation, to meal services to the elderly to reservations made at state parks.
"We all wish that we could have been done a long time ago," Robinson said. "It simply is a matter of the challenge of building an operating budget and all of the policy and working of funding K-12."
Washington lawmakers are preparing to be briefed Thursday on details of a bipartisan compromise on a two-year state operating budget as staffers race to finish the lengthy bill.
Legislative leaders had initially said that the budget and other related documents would be posted publicly at noon Thursday, but later had to amend that, saying they won't be available until Thursday night. Democratic Rep. June Robinson, who has been part of the budget negotiations, said that exhausted staffers are trying to get the complicated bill done as quickly as possible in time for a vote Friday.
"It's an incredibly complex document to put together," she said. "We want to make sure that what we put out is accurate. They are working as fast as they possibly can."
The Democratic-controlled House and Republican-led Senate have been struggling for months to find a compromise on a budget that addresses a state Supreme Court mandate on education funding. They reached agreement on the budget after overnight negotiations that ended Wednesday morning. They are in the midst of a third overtime session, and if a new budget isn't signed into law by midnight Friday, a partial shutdown starts Saturday.
OH well they started of off teaching "NEW" math and now they teach "NO" math in US schools anymore. Should someone start importing an "Education Kit" from China?
Walmart RU listening.....Youhoo where is Yahoo when we need you....what this country needs is education in a "box" 4D brain drain. No more food 4 though, it seems to go to our ASSET's of which all the States like to gobble ^^gobble....up^^ turkey's <snip> darn
turkie$$$$$
Illinois and now Washington State? Lottery games are a voluntary tax and should have no bearing on state revenues.
Don't know about the rest of LP members, but getting fed up with lottery players being held hostage by inept states legislatures.
It's a done deal. All they need is to vote and the gov to sign. Not complex at all...
Is the # of days it is shutdown added to the # of days you have to claim ?
Exactly! They've had at least 6 months to get their proverbial poop together and adopt a budget. What's with all this last minute scrambling?
No, your State workers and us as outsiders don't think so June.Why you ask?, because If you did, we wouldn't be where we are right now, would we?
Are these states co-mingling lottery money with the state's general fund? A lottery should be able to sustain itself.
North Carolina might be next...
Totally agree, I am really fed up with these inept, wait til the last second, politicians. If it was THEIR paycheck do you think it would come down to the last nanosecond?
So sick of this, any state can be next. Here I thought it couldnt get any worse than Illinois until I experienced this yesterday. Clerk told me she could only sell me a MM ticket because the drawing will be June 30. Any other games beginning July 01 would not be sold. I couldnt believe it, I told her well I knew Illinois has a perennial budget problem, now you are telling me WA State also? She said they will more than likely pass it but as of right now MM is the only ticket she could sell me and they stopped all other sales. Boy was I po'd. This is not about being inconvenienced it is the principle.
That is what that say in the small print!!!
They are taking away everything from us a little at a time. From ball numbers and giving out better payouts to RNG numbers and cutting back on payouts! They even went from a big cardboard check when someone won to some very small paper check...Where does all that money go? Someone in Washington DC need to look into what they are doing behind closed doors!!! I some how feel a Eddie T. case here....
My fam in washington(state)saying she glad she gave up almost 8 months now the PB, she spent a pretty penny on the worthless PB rig game(her exact words)saying how can 1 person win only,when so high at times,and i agree on that. but she still play few others not powerball.Yea this is happening now, it seem more than it ever have. smdh.
A vote was scheduled on the plan at 8 a.m. Friday in the Senate Ways and Means Committee. It didn’t appear as if the budget would get a public hearing before lawmakers would take their final votes on the plan later in the day.
....
The House and Senate are expected to hold floor votes on the budget later in the day Friday.
http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/politics-government/article159016509.html
I'm sure they have enough votes to pass it but they do seem to be dragging it down to the hour.
IKR.
Yep. ICAM Noise. Glad NC is safe out here.Hope it remains.
looks like NC budget passed with override
RALEIGH
The N.C. House voted 76-43 Wednesday morning to override Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of the Republican-led budget plan, passing the bill into law.
Final approval came three days before the spending plan takes effect July 1 – affecting tax rates, teacher and state-worker salaries, state-agency budgets, jurisdiction over criminal suspects and more.
The Senate had voted to override on Tuesday, just a few hours after the legislature received Cooper’s veto message. In his message, Cooper cited the budget’s income tax cuts and argued it “will cause the state to fail to fund promised teacher salary increases in future years.”