The Daily Mail

A young woman who won $1m on a state lottery has sparked outrage after she admitted to still claiming benefits.

Amanda Clayton of Lincoln Park, Michigan still claims $200 a month in food stamps and despite paying cash for a new home and car said, 'I'm still struggling.'

The 24-year-old added that she is entitled to the welfare handout as she has two homes to run.

'I feel that it's okay because I mean, I have no income and I have bills to pay,' she said. 'I have two houses.'

Clayton won the $1 million in October after paying $10 for a series of tickets in the Michigan State Lottery.

She posed proudly with a giant check for the six figure sum and told friends the jackpot would change her life.

But after a tip off that she was still claiming benefits a local TV station followed her around and filmed her with a secret camera.

Clayton was filmed going into a store and paying for goods using her Bridge card to pay for her items.

When confronted about continuing to claim welfare Clayton said she wasn't doing anything wrong.

'I thought that they would cut me off, but since they didn't, I thought maybe it was okay because I'm not working,' she told WDIV in Detroit.

Clayton said after paying taxes and deciding on a lump sum she was left with just over $500,000.

She was filmed outside her Lincoln Park home where a U-Haul van was waiting to take her possessions to a new home she had bought with cash. Clayton also had a new car.

Local politicians are pushing for a change in the law that prevents lottery winners from still being able to claim state benefits.

Republican Dale Zorn, who is sponsoring a bill to ban lottery winners from getting food stamps, said: 'Public assistance should be given to those in need of public assistance, not those that have found riches.

The bill has already passed the House, and Zorn is hoping it will pass the Senate soon.

'We need to have the lottery commission notify the state so that state can cross check those who are on assistance,' Zorn said.

There are two different bills—one in the House, another in the Senate that have each passed which would require lottery winners of prizes of $1,000 or more to have their names cross checked with the Department of Human Services.

Clayton said she will keep using her Bridge card until the state cuts her off and said she deserves it.

'It's just hard, you know. I'm struggling,' she said.