Download This Version in Microsoft Word format
TO URGE THE SOUTH CAROLINA LOTTERY COMMISSION TO RENEGOTIATE ANY CONTRACT FOR A NATIONAL LOTTERY GAME SO THAT THE LOTTERY GAME, IN THE EVENT THAT A WINNER FAILS TO CLAIM A PRIZE OF FIVE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS OR MORE, AGREES TO REMIT ANY INCOME TAX LIABILITY IN THIS STATE THAT WOULD HAVE RESULTED FROM THAT WINNER CLAIMING THE PRIZE, AND TO STRONGLY ENCOURAGE THE LOTTERY COMMISSION TO DISCUSS WITH ITS COUNTERPARTS IN OTHER STATES THE BENEFITS OF SUCH A PROVISION TO ALL STATES.
Whereas, on October 23, 2018, one winning ticket in the Mega Millions drawing was sold at the KC Mart convenience store in Simpsonville, South Carolina. The winner has one hundred eighty days to come forward and claim the $1.54 billion prize; and
Whereas, if the winner does not come forward in one hundred eighty days, the forty-four states that participate in the Mega Millions each receive the money they sold in tickets for the prize returned to them. In South Carolina, that would be eleven million dollars; and
Whereas, if the winner claims the prize, South Carolina will receive over sixty million dollars in income tax revenue; and
Whereas, the disparity in revenue and uncertainty of whether the winner claims the ticket makes the budgeting process much more uncertain than is necessary. Now, therefore,
Be it resolved by the House of Representatives:
That the members of the South Carolina House of Representatives, by this resolution, urge the South Carolina Lottery Commission to renegotiate, with retroactive effect, any contract for a national lottery game so that the lottery game, in the event that a winner fails to claim a prize of five hundred million dollars or more, agrees to remit to the Department of Revenue any income tax liability in this State that would have resulted from that winner claiming the prize. The South Carolina Lottery Commission is strongly encouraged to discuss with its counterparts in other states the benefits of such a provision to all states.
Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be sent to the Board of Commissioners of the South Carolina Lottery Commission.
This web page was last updated on February 28, 2019 at 12:35 PM