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Food Stamps Aren’t For Lottery Jackpot Winners

News broke last week that someone in California bought the winning ticket for a $1.7 billion Powerball jackpot. Yet while the winner isn’t known, taxpayers may soon be the losers.

Tens of thousands of substantial lottery winners are receiving food stamps, through a combination of state negligence and federally created loopholes. Congress should get lottery winners off this low-income program when passing the Farm Bill later this fall.

The Foundation for Government Accountability submitted Freedom of Information Act requests to all 50 states, requesting information on the number of substantial lottery winners on the food stamp program since 2019. We aren’t talking about the proud owners of $20 prizes from scratchers. We’re talking about those who won at least $4,250, which under federal law, makes a person ineligible for the taxpayer’s help.

At FGA, we don’t just talk about changing policy—we make it happen.

By partnering with FGA through a gift, you can create more policy change that returns America to a country where entrepreneurship thrives, personal responsibility is rewarded, and paychecks replace welfare checks.