“For the first time, we were finally gonna get a break,” Rick said. “And now the Illinois Lottery has kind of messed everything up.”

Under state law, checks for such winnings must be cut by the state comptroller’s office and, since lawmakers have yet to approve a budget, the office cannot release those funds, the newspaper said.

“The lottery is a state agency like many others, and we’re obviously affected by the budget situation,” Steve Rossi, a Lottery spokesman, told the newspaper. “Since the legal authority is not there for the comptroller to disburse payments, those payments are delayed.”

Click here for the full report.