Michigan Man wins Lottery Big Time, Legally Keeps Food Stamp Card

Over 11 months ago, Leroy Fick, age 59 of Auburn , Michigan won $2 million in the state lottery game "Make Me Rich". After taxes and fees, he was left with a less than paltry $850,000. Prior to his winnings, he was a Michigan Bridge Card recipient, AKA food stamps. Mr. Fick reported his winning to his local Department of Human Services. He was advised that since he accepted his winning in a lump sum payment, it did not affect his bridge card eligibility at all. If he had taken the winnings in annuity form spread over time, the money would be counted as income, rendering him ineligible for food assistance. Apparently, there is no resource or asset limits on food assistance. I used to work as a welfare case worker in the early 1990s and there was a $1,000.00 asset limit on food stamps. This was in Ohio. I cannot imagine that the Federal Guidelines for food assistance have changed that much. How will we ever balance our budget or reduce government spending if we keep giving money away like this??
Michigan's state population for 2010 was 10,079,985. 1.9 million people in Michigan received food assistance. That is 18.8 percent of the state's population on food assistance funded by taxpayers. In 2009 the Inspector General's office investigated 2600 food assistance complaints and found $5 million + in fraud. My question is how flagrant were these fraud cases if money in the bank is not fraud???