Call Kurtis Investigates: I Won the Powerball. Why Won't the State Pay Me?
ROCKLIN (CBS13) - A Rocklin couple says their Powerball payout is stuck between state agencies and no one could say when they'd get their winnings.
"We live paycheck to paycheck," says Powerball winner Debra Miller.
Working two jobs to support her disabled husband and a teenage son, Debra had a dilemma in April on her way to work.
"I had $6 to my name until Friday's paycheck," she said.
She walked into a Rocklin gas station and used $2 to play Powerball.
"I thought, 'Do I want to live on $6 for the week or $4 for the week?'" Debra asked. "And then I kind of decided to buy one and said if I'm going to be broke, I'll be all the way broke," she laughed.
It was a life-changing decision. She matched five numbers, winning $1.6 million. She couldn't wait to call her husband, Stephen Deigert.
"And I said, "How would you like to be worth $1.6 million?" she remembers asking. "He said, 'Yeah; right. Why?'" "'Cause we won the lotto and you're worth $1.6 million. He said, 'This is just the payback for the April fool's joke,' and hung up the phone."
Turning the ticket into the Natomas lottery office, the lottery folks snapped a photo of the happy family.
According to the Lottery's own winner's handbook, the payout should arrive approximately 6 to 8 weeks from your claim date. But 11 weeks later?
"At this point, it's turned into a big fight. It's really killed the fun out of winning the ticket," said Debra.
Instead of getting their check, Debra and Stephen were handed a notice of intercepted funds from the Franchise Tax Board (FTB). The one-time payout of $1.2 million, after federal taxes, was on hold over $109 owed in back taxes.
Debra's husband Stephen was in disbelief. "Are you kidding me? They're holding this over $109!" he said.
The couple drove to the FTB and learned the agency collected its part. Weeks later, they still didn't have their money.
When Debra and Stephen went to the lottery office to find out the status, they said the lottery office manager refused to say when they'd get it.
"He said, 'We can pay it out whenever we want,'" Stephen recalls.
Debra's optimism for winning the lottery has faded.
"I'm almost prone to say I don't think anyone should play this game because you don't know if you're going to get your money," she said.
The state explains the processing time includes checking surveillance video to verify the winner bought the winning ticket. They also check in with more than 800 different government agencies to see if the winner owes money for things like back taxes, child support or unpaid student loans. Lottery officials say offsets can add three weeks to the payout process.
California Lottery spokesperson Alex Traverso says the lottery sometimes gets backlogged processing claims, which can delay things even more.
"I know they've been waiting a long time, and they've been patient," said Alex.
But after we got involved, a check was cut. We were there the day they picked it up.
"I am a millionaire," she said as she held up the $1.2 million check.
"We really want to thank you guys, you took a big part of this happening now," said Debra.
Stephen added, "We wouldn't have gotten this without you guys."
Debra calls the newly received winnings security for her family, who, for so long, has lived paycheck to paycheck.
"Now I can see the end of the tunnel. I will be able to retire," she said.