(NewsNation) — Hundreds of Florida lottery winners say the Sunshine State is illegally withholding their winnings due to a system error that makes it appear they were overpaid in unemployment benefits.
While the incidents are being evaluated on a case-by-case basis, residents claim they weren’t overpaid.
‘I didn’t owe the money’: Lottery winner
Many of these lottery winners, who applied for unemployment assistance during the coronavirus pandemic, claim they never received notice from the state that they were overpaid.
Bob Calamita scored $1,000 in March. However, when he visited the lottery office, instead of walking out with money, he was given a letter stating he owed the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity $3,000 for an unemployment overpayment during the pandemic.
“I stay there about an hour and a half to be told ‘Sorry, you’re not getting this because you owe money on the DEO system,” Calamita told NewsNation affiliate WFLA. “If I owed money, I would have paid it. I have no problem with that, but I didn’t owe money.”
However, the state eventually sent Calamita a check with the full $1,000 prize. He was told that he didn’t owe any money due to a computer-generated error occurring in the system the office uses to fight fraud.
NewsNation reached out to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity and was told it’s looking the problem.
Why can Florida withhold lotto winnings?
According to the Multi-State Lottery Association, if residents do owe any money, including debts, child support or taxes, states can allow their agencies to collect those funds from lottery winnings.
States have different laws regarding lottery winnings and residents are usually taxed on their winnings, the association said.