Hit the jackpot? Here's what the government can take from your winnings

Lottery players in New York have more in common than they might know with their counterparts in Wisconsin, where the latest winning Powerball ticket was sold.

The states are two of a number that intercept prize money from lottery winners who have fallen behind in their federal, state or local taxes or child support or who have debts to other government agencies.

New Yorkers, for example, can have to repay public assistance such as food stamps and Medicaid. 

The winning ticket in Wisconsin brought the buyer the third-largest prize in U.S. lottery history: $768 million, with a cash option of $477 million. Of course, federal, state and local income taxes due on the prize money are withheld.

In New York, the delinquent taxes and child support coupled with the repayment of public assistance has added up — roughly $85.6 million from fiscal 2012-13 to Dec. 31, 2018, said Brad Maione, spokesman for the state Gaming Commission.

The sums came out of the $14 billion in prizes that the New York Lottery awarded in the same period, Maione said in an email.

The breakdown of the $85.6 million: $36 million in food stamp repayments, $4.6 million from parents who owed at least $50 in child support, and nearly $45 million in back taxes, he said.

The average sum New York subtracted from various prizes and windfalls for public assistance has risen gradually to almost $692 in 2018 from $637 in 2013, according to Jason Mason, a digital information officer with the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance.

All lottery players who win at least $600 must reimburse the cost of any public benefits they received in the last decade, though the clawback is capped at 50 percent of the winnings, he said.

The same repayment provision applies to other awards, from inheritances to lawsuit settlements, he said.

Winners who disagree with the state’s deductions can contest them; in 2016, for example, there were 667 appeals and 191 succeeded, at least partially, Mason said. More recent data was not available.

For delinquent child support, New York State collected just more than $1.3 million in 2018 by intercepting 2,136 lottery prizes, Mason said. That amount was down slightly from the $1.4 million deducted from 2,228 prizes in 2016.

On New Year's Day, a group of 23 Long Island co-workers won the $437 million Mega Millions, the largest face-value jackpot in New York Lottery history.

With The Associated Press