LANSING, MI — More than 7,200 Michigan Lottery winners were living in households that received public assistance of some kind in 2013, and the state was able to close about 11 percent of those cases as a result.

The Michigan Department of Human Services shared those findings Thursday in its latest "lottery match report," analyzing the impact of a 2012 law that allows the agency to cross-check lottery winnings with public assistance programs and, in some cases, end benefits.

DHS identified 7,216 lotto players who won at least $1,000 last year and lived in a household that received food stamps, Medicaid, or some other form of assistance. Their winnings totaled nearly $44 million, or about $6,056 per case. Eighteen cases involved jackpots valued at $100,000 or more.

But current state and federal laws only allowed the department to close 810 of the cases, or about 11 percent, according to the report. One case involved a lotto player who won more than $4 million.

“These winnings add up,” DHS Director Maura Corrigan said in a statement. “While federal regulations prevent us from being able to discontinue certain types of benefits, we were able to close food assistance and Medicaid benefits for 810 recipients, saving taxpayers nearly $2 million.”

The report noted at least four bills working their way through the state Legislature that would make it harder for lotto winners to continue receive public assistance, and Corrigan said that federal policy changes would also allow the state to close different types of cases.

“It does not sit well with taxpayers when someone who has won millions of dollars continues to collect assistance because of federal loopholes that do not count these winnings as assets,” Corrigan said.

The state law restricting benefits for lottery winners was inspired by a series of high profile cases, including a Bay City man who won $2 million in a "Make Me Rich!" game but continued to receive food assistance.

Those cases involving large winnings are rare, and critics argue that various state efforts to limit welfare access and require stricter asset testing for recipients have cast too broad a net capable of ensnaring residents with legitimate needs.

“Most of the people on food assistance and Medicaid are kids, the fragile elderly, pregnant women and people with disabilities,” said Judy Putnam of the Michigan League for Public Policy. “Is that who we’re kicking off assistance for small lottery winnings in their households? That doesn’t seem right.”

“Having said that, we do have to acknowledge there were some really egregious cases in the past few years involving these huge lottery winners. Nobody thinks they should be on assistance.”

Jonathan Oosting is a Capitol reporter for MLive Media Group. Email him, find him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter.