A young mum has been left outraged after claiming she was blocked from her lottery winnings.
Brittany Wilson, from Florida, said she was "struggling financially" when she won $3,930 on the state lottery.
However, when she turned up to collect the cash she was turned away empty handed and hit with a possible debt owed to the state.
Officials have responded, claiming Wilson’s prize was being withheld because she had been overpaid when unemployed and receiving state benefits.
Brittany Wilson, from Florida, purchased the scratchcard
Getty
She told ABC Action News: "It was hard for me during that time. I was financially struggling … something just told me to go to the store and try out my winnings.
“I was thinking about all the bills that I have held up, just paying those off" adding she was looking forward to spending some of the windfall on her two kids who mean "everything" to her.
Wilson told the news station she called the Florida Unemployment Assistance Programme "almost every day," but had to endure frustrating three-hour wait times before being met by someone who usually couldn’t help.
Wilson is not the only one, as thousands of Florida residents had fallen foul when they received benefits they weren’t supposed to, according to Florida Commerce.
She added: "If you guys [the state] can find out if I’m working or if I’m not working to verify if I qualify for unemployment, you should be able to find some way to reach me. My email on that site is still the same.
"Something has to be done. This cannot keep happening – with the times now, where [the price of] everything’s going up: rent’s going up, food’s going up. Let me have this money."
According to ABC, Wilson is one of thousands of Floridians who have been given similar negative messages when they arrive to collect their lottery winnings, because of past overpaid unemployment compensation.
The network reported Kylie McGivern said she'd been having an acutely difficult time getting in touch with anyone at the Commerce Department who could tell her why this is happening to hundreds of people.
Following the investigation, Wilson was eventually able to collect her winnings.
Her alleged debt was also wiped from the system - but the reason this is still happening to so many others remains unclear.