Did you hear? Lottery pays debts first
Published: June 18, 2005
A man won over $50,000 in the South Carolina Education Lottery recently but never got a penny of the prize.
The reason? It all went to pay his child support debt.
For prizes over $5,000, the lottery pays up any back child support obligation out of prize money before paying the rest to the winner, says Ernie Passailaigue, executive director of the state lottery.
If a winner owes a debt because of contract, subrogation, tort or operation of law to a state or local agency, department, board, commission or authority, then that debt will be paid first out of a greater than $5,000 prize; the winner will then receive what’s left.
Debts are paid in the following order:
a) taxes due the State;
b) delinquent child support;
c) delinquent student loans; and
d) all other judgments and liens in order of the date entered or perfected.
According to information provided by Passailaigue, since the start of the lottery in January 2002, the legislature has appropriated more than $839 million in lottery proceeds, with $534.5 million going to higher education, $276.8 million going to kindergarten through 12th grade programs, and $27.9 million to other educational programs.
The higher education money is allotted in the following portions: $365.6 million to scholarships, $47.7 million to technology, $90 million to endowed chairs at Clemson University, the University of South Carolina and the College of Charleston (the state’s three research universities), and $31.2 million to other higher education programs.
Over 400,000 lottery scholarships have been awarded between Jan. 7, 2002 and June 30 of this year, Passailaigue said.
Of the K-12 program appropriations, $119.4 million has gone to K-5th grade programs, $92.6 million to the Education Accountability Act and $46.8 million to school buses. Another $18 million was paid to other K-12 programs.
Of the $27.9 million that went to “other educational programs,” $19.9 million was for SC-ETV, $6 million for county libraries and $2 million for treatment of gambling addiction.
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