Call Kurtis: California Lottery Payout Delays

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) - State lottery winners who won big are growing impatient.

A Loomis viewer woman waited for the $10,000 she won in June, and when it didn't arrive, called Kurtis to investigate.

Her email to me said, "I want my money". Blame the pandemic. It normally takes six to eight weeks to collect. We're now beyond the 18 weeks she was quoted in July.

The state lottery admits it's working through a pandemic backlog, but is making progress. A few months back, it said it had 35,000 claims to get through. It's now brought that down 28,000. That number is normally 16,000.

So, what takes so long? Collecting lottery winnings above $600 is a lengthy process. You attach your signed ticket to a claim form and the lottery then investigates it to see it's a legitimate win. It then checks with agencies to see if you owe money, things like back taxes or child support, which they deduct.

I reached out to the lottery about this case, last week. Over the weekend, I got an email from her saying she just got her check.

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• California Lottery