Discount Lottery Ticket Resellers Dodge $7 Million In Debt Payments

North Carolina lottery winners have dodged paying about $7 million in back taxes and overdue child support that are supposed to be taken from their winnings.

Researchers working for the General Assembly arrived at the estimate by looking at repeat lottery winners in the past seven years.

The study followed an investigation by The Charlotte Observer, which found that dozens of players won the lottery so often that their luck defied logic.

The newspaper found there was a lucrative secondary market for winning lottery tickets in which players sell their claim on prizes at a discount. This allows them to avoid automatic withholdings, such as back taxes and child support. Ticket buyers can collect the full prize and sellers can remain anonymous.

One official says that some players may be undocumented immigrants wanting to avoid government scrutiny.