Amanda Clayton won the lottery in September, but despite her $1 million prize, she was still collecting $200 per month in food stamps until recently. Last night, the Michigan Department of Human Services confirmed that she has been removed from the welfare program, the Detroit News reports. "State assistance, our tax dollars, is meant to go to those who are truly in need," says state Rep. Dale Zorn. "It's not meant to go to those who won big in the lottery." A similar incident involving a $2 million payday occurred in 2010, and Zorn is now looking to make sure big lottery winners are taken off welfare programs.
Clayton's ex-boyfriend says she went on "an insane shopping spree" after winning the state lottery; she reportedly bought a house and car with cash. After taxes, she took home about $500,000 total of her $700,000 lump sum payment, Clayton's mother says. And here's the craziest quote of all, from Clayton herself: "I thought that they would cut me off, but since they didn't I thought maybe it was OK because I'm not working. I feel that it's OK because I have no income, and I have bills to pay. I have two houses." The Times notes that she could well have been breaking the law, if she accepted food stamps after her income and assets surpassed the legal threshold. "The person in question hasn't been eligible for a long time," says a DHS spokesman. Watch the original report from WDIV-TV at left. (More Amanda Clayton stories.)
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