Half a million dollars is back where it belongs tonight, in the hands of a family dealing with a terminal cancer diagnosis.
They thought their medical bills were taken care of when they beat the odds and won a lottery prize.
But when that money didn’t come – they turned to NBC 5 Responds.
“All of a sudden i saw ‘you won $450,000’. I could not believe it,” said Jim, who asked us not to use his last name for privacy reasons.
“He dropped to his knees and started to cry. And i didn't have any control. I just started walking in circles. I thought ‘this can't be real. This can't be real’!” said Kim, Jim’s wife.
Winning $450,000 in the Illinois Lottery couldn’t have come at a better time for Jim and Kim from the south suburbs.
Their daughter-in-law, Bonnie, was recently diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.
NBC 5 Responds
“[Bonnie] basically has nothing left anymore. She can't see, she can hear. She can't use her hands anymore. She's unable to walk. She can barely speak,” said Kim.
“It's taken a big toll because my son is struggling to pay for her medications. Pay for her treatments,” said Jim.
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A WIN; BUT NO WINNINGS
While the Lotto win came at the perfect time, the money itself would be much harder to collect.
“They put on the paperwork, ‘you'll receive it in four to six weeks’. So i have it marked on the calendar….. Well that passed and nothing happened,” said Jim.
“Where do you go? It's almost like you're fighting…City Hall,” said Kim.
“It didn't even feel like we won because just a lot of weeks go by and you're like okay, is it going to another person? Is there another …is it going to the right bank account?” said Jim “it's like 'why should I even play it if they're not paying out?;”
ONE CALL YIELDS IMMEDIATE RESULTS
That’s when the couple decided to contact NBC Responds.
We contacted Illinois Lottery, and within minutes Jim got a phone call.
“I got a call from the budget claims manager at Illinois Lottery. She said that ‘I want to apologize for the way you were treated from my staff. And you should have your money in your bank account the following day’,” said Jim.
As promised, the money made it to Jim’s bank account the next morning.
In a statement to NBC Responds, Illinois Lottery told us: “Although every effort is made to process claims as quickly as possible, there are several factors that can cause a delay, including completion of the claim form, volume of prize claims being processed, submission of all required documents, and the quality of the uploaded ticket images.”
Illinois Lotto sent us a list of resources for winners, including: When You Win | Claim Center Locations | Claim A Prize | Illinois Lottery and WinnersHandbook_Aug2023.pdf
“That one phone call or two phone calls or whatever took place, it means everything to us. [NBC Responds] not only made our day, you made a lot of dreams come true,” said Jim.
HISTORIC RESOLUTION
Kim and Jim’s case made history at NBC Chicago. It’s the largest single amount of money NBC 5 Responds has gotten back for a viewer in the station’s 75-year history.
If you have a consumer issue you'd like NBC Responds to look into, contact Investigator PJ Randhawa directly at PJ.Randhawa@NBCuni.com.
