See ACES Screens and Online Pages for an example of pages or screens used in this chapter.
U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) published a final rule, effective June 14, 2019, to implement Section 4009 of the 2014 Farm Bill, which prohibits individuals with substantial lottery and gambling winnings from receiving Basic Food benefits until they meet allowable financial resource and income requirements.
“Substantial winnings” are defined as a cash prize won in a single game, before taxes or other amounts are withheld, that are equal to or greater than the SNAP resource limit for elderly or disabled households.
For more information about how resources affect eligibility, see EA-Z Manual – WAC 388-470-0005 How do resources affect my eligibility for cash assistance and Basic Food?
When substantial winnings are entered for a household participating in Basic Food, a Lottery/Gambling (G) penalty is added to the client with the winnings on the Sanctions page, and the household terminates for Reason Code 402 - Lottery/Gambling Disqualification. This happens when all of the following are true about the client with the winnings:
When someone is disqualified for lottery/gambling winnings, then reapplies or is added to an active food AU, the household is no longer Categorically Eligible (CE). To re-qualify, the household must have income under 130% FPL and resources under the applicable resource standard:
Once the household re-qualifies, the Penalty End Date is updated on the Sanctions page, and Basic Food is approved.
If a Lottery/Gambling disqualification was entered in error, or the household is not subject to the penalty because the household composition changed, the penalty can be manually deleted from the Sanctions page. For more information, see How do I manually delete a Lottery/Gambling disqualification?
To disqualify a household for substantial lottery/gambling winnings, take the following steps in ACES 3G:
When a lottery/gambling disqualification is entered for a historical month, ACES creates a Benefit Error Group (BEG). Determine if the BEG is appropriate and confirm or ignore the issuance as appropriate. For more information, see Benefit Error Group (BEG).
If a lottery/gambling disqualification was entered in error, or the household is not subject to the penalty because the household composition changed, the penalty can be manually deleted from the Sanctions page.
To manually delete a lottery/gambling disqualification, take the following steps:
See ACES Screens and Online Pages for an example of pages or screens used in this chapter.