• iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
Lottery winner furious as she says she was ‘held hostage’ from her winnings

Home> News> US News

Published 13:34 3 Aug 2023 GMT+1

Lottery winner furious as she says she was ‘held hostage’ from her winnings

She wasn't allowed to collect her winnings

Kit Roberts

Kit Roberts

A lottery winner said she ended up being denied her winnings over a little-known technicality.

It's a common pastime to imagine how we would react if we won the lottery. Would you travel, buy a big house, a yacht, or just retire from working? Maybe all of the above.

Hilde McNillan was unable to claim her lottery winnings.
ABC Action News WFTS

However, one woman was left furious after bagging $1,000 (£789) on the lottery, only to be denied her winnings due to a little-known technicality.

Advert

Hilde McMillen was delighted when she found out that she had won $1,000 on the lottery in Florida. However, when she tried to collect her winnings she ran into an obstacle.

She said: "Oh my God, I was excited! At that time, yeah I needed the money."

However, Hilde, 82, became confused when her winnings didn't arrive in her account and when she chased up the winnings, she was told she would not be receiving them due to a little-known rule.

The rule means you can't collect lottery winnings if they have been overpaid for unemployment benefits. Unfortunately for Hilde, she fell into this category.

She said: "They told me they're not going to pay me. Because I had an overpayment on my unemployment. I say I can't believe that, I say, I paid that already.

Advert

"[It] took almost three hours to get [the DEO] and the lady was very nice, but she couldn't help us with nothing.

Hilde won $1,000 on the lottery.
Martin Diebel / Getty

"They held me hostage from my own money. My $1,000 was sitting at the unemployment office and nobody did nothing."

Things went from absolutely delighted to feeling awful following the bad news. It might not have been the Euromillions, but the $1,000 would have made a big difference to Hilde.

Hilde was written to by the DEO, which said: "You were without fault in creating this overpayment and the department has determined that recovery would be contrary to equity and good conscience."

Advert

In other words, ultimately Hilde was able to claim her winnings. Not only that, but she even received back a $200 payment she had to make to the department.

She said: "So in other words, I didn't owe them nothing."

Hilde is not the only one to have encountered difficulties while trying to claim her lottery winnings. Sara Magnetta encountered a similar problem when she tried to claim her winnings.

She said: "Something that was so exciting became an absolute nightmare. I felt like this could hit home for a lot of people."

The DEO clarified in a statement that it has procedures in place to stop fraud, but admitted 'just because an overpayment is flagged in an account, it does not mean that an overpayment has occurred'.

Featured Image Credit: Martin Diebel / Getty / ABC Action News WFTS

Topics: US News, Money

Kit Roberts
Kit Roberts

Kit joined LADbible Group in 2023 as a community journalist. They previously worked for StokeonTrentLive, the Daily Mirror, and the Daily Star.

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

22 mins ago
an hour ago
2 hours ago
  • Mike Simons/Getty ImageMike Simons/Getty Image
    22 mins ago

    How Utah carries out capital punishment as Trump calls for death penalty for Charlie Kirk killer

    Utah is one of 27 states that still has the death penalty

    News
  • Instagram/mrserikakirkInstagram/mrserikakirk
    an hour ago

    Charlie Kirk's wife reveals how she explained his death to their three-year-old daughter

    Charlie Kirk's widow Erika said he was a 'perfect' husband and father

    News
  • FBIFBI
    2 hours ago

    Discord denies FBI's statement that Charlie Kirk shooting suspect sent 'planning details' on platform

    Authorities in Utah have Tyler Robinson in custody, who they believe is responsible for the shooting of Kirk

    News
  • X/charliekirk11X/charliekirk11
    2 hours ago

    Charlie Kirk's wife makes defiant statement saying her ‘cries will echo around the world like a battle cry’

    His widow Erika vowed to 'never surrender' while paying tribute to her late husband

    News
  • Everything Britain's youngest ever lottery winner spent her winnings on before ending up bankrupt
  • UK's youngest lottery winner says she was 'exploited' after scooping up £1.8m at 16
  • $340 million lottery winner was denied jackpot following brutal mistake
  • Man who won £191k annual salary for life in huge lottery jackpot now faces losing his home