Jackpot Intercept Program

In this Topic

  1. Introduction
  2. Eligibility of Cases
  3. Contest
  4. NJCSI Handout Materials

Introduction

The OCSSOffice of Child Support Services and DGEDivision of Gaming Enforcement have partnered to develop the Jackpot Intercept Program. The purpose is to withhold overdue child support from noncustodial parents with slot machine jackpot winnings equal to $50,000 or more.

Eligibility of Cases

According to federal and state law, a child support lien is enforceable against the proceeds of a jackpot payment. The casino is responsible for withholding and transmitting the appropriate amount of support arrears from the pending jackpot payment.

A child support web portal for all licensed casinos (including online gaming sites) is available. The child support web portal enables authorized casino users to conduct real-time child support searches on patrons in the casino. The availability of the web portal allows the casinos to instantly identify eligible slot jackpots and withhold up to the amount of arrears owed from those jackpots. Casinos will then remit funds to the SDU.

Contest

Noncustodial parents whose slot winnings are withheld may request a contest with OCSS’s AEUAdministrative Enforcement Unit within fifteen (15) business days. Intercepted jackpot payments will be coded using the ‘LO’ (Lottery) Receipt Source in NJKiDSNew Jersey’s Federally certified, statewide automated case management system for tracking all information related to child support cases. NJKiDS monitors cases to ensure that case actions are completed within required time frames. NJKiDS is also used to provide statistics, reports, and information about child and alimony/ spousal support enforcement in New Jersey to Federal, State, and local authorities. NJKiDS serves as the State Case Registry for IV-D support cases. and placed on a MNFNManual Financial Review distribution hold by the AEU pending the contest period. The hold will be released when the contest period has ended or the contest is resolved.

Note: staff should not disclose the name of the casino that has remitted payment to the custodial parent. OCSS views this collaboration with DGE and the casino industry as a means of increasing collections and disbursing more monies to families.

For more information and guidance, please refer to IT-18-02: Jackpot Intercept Program (update to IT 16-18).

NJCSI Handout Materials

For more information and guidance, please refer to the following document:

Institute for Families, School of Social Work  Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey - Child Support Program Manual 2020 Release