Photo by sissnitz

If you’re a furloughed employee and your last hope to stay afloat financially during the shutdown was to try your luck in the lottery, well, time to go back to the drawing board. The D.C. Lottery announced today that, because of the shutdown, they have suspended the redemption of winning D.C Lottery tickets until further notice

According to a news release, though lottery tickets will still be sold, retailers unfortunately cannot cash them. The reason is “complex,” but D.C. Lottery says that it’s because of a lack of “federal appropriation of its fiscal year 2014 budget.”

The release also answers several other pertinent questions, such as: “If I can’t cash my winning ticket, what should I do with it?” (Sign it and hold it); “Will drawings still occur?” (Yes); “How can I find winning numbers reports to determine if I have a winning ticket?” (DC Lottery website), and “Can I get my winnings in all $1 bills so I can put it in a baby pool and swim in it?” (Just kidding, they didn’t address that, but presumably, no).

And finally, the last question they address: “How soon will I know when the DC Lottery resumes cashing winning tickets? Answer: As soon as possible.

Congress: They may take away our paychecks, public services, and lottery, but they’ll never take away our freedom. Unless they do.