A new report from the Illinois Legislature has found that the Illinois Lottery lost money past year for the first time since 2009.

“This deal is an instant win for taxpayers because it immediately saves them $22 million”, said General Counsel Jason Barclay.

The lottery loss comes after the state hired a private manager to help increase the sales and profits. According to the Rauner administration, under the old deal, the new manager would have been forced to give Northstar’s parent companies, GTech and Scientific Games, option rights, which would have limited competition.

Barclay also said that Northstar agreed to the new exit package as the state had made its position clear that it does not want to do business with them. The legislative report painted a grim picture of the state’s relationship with Northstar, saying it has consistently failed to meet profit targets, gone to arbitration with the state numerous times, repeatedly paid penalties for not meeting targets and failed to expand the number of lottery retail outlets as promised.

Barclay said the complete terms of the agreement will be disclosed and made available for General Assembly hearings in a few days.

Illinois’ budget decisions which have been taken by the courts for nearly three months due to a political stalemate, is deepening the fiscal woes of the state further. And lottery winners should not be expected to just shake their head and walk away just because the state can’t afford to pay their lottery winnings.