Illinois Lottery Winners Get Stiffed When State Checks Don’t Cash

CHICAGO (CBS) — Eighty-five Illinois Lottery winners last week probably thought they were lucky — until they tried to cash in their winnings, that is.
Their checks, totaling $159,000 in lottery winnings, were no good.
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Two days after Christmas, Maureen Furio of Lake Zurich bought an instant scratch-off ticket and won $1000. The next day, she got a check from the lottery.

“I deposited it the same day and went ahead and paid some extra Christmas bills,” Furio says. “And Jan. 3, it bounced.”
“Not bounced … returned,” says Mike Lang, spokesman for the Illinois Lottery. He says lottery officials failed to key in the required security verification on the checks issued on Dec. 28.
“We apologize for the inconvenience that these players have incurred,” Lang says.
Lang says Furio and the 84 other winners who tried to get their winnings but couldn’t can re-submit the checks. He says the state lottery will reimburse them for any bank fees.