Some of the luckiest people in Michigan are still cashing on in state welfare benefits intended for the less fortunate.

More than 3,500 Michigan lottery winners received some form of public assistance or lived with someone receiving welfare or food stamps. All of the lottery winners had won at least $1,000 and the average prize was $6,800. The most blatant form of lotto winners exploiting Michigan's welfare system comes from a man who won $125,000, but continues to get $400 a month in food stamps from his children still living with him.

Another glaring example comes from a $33,000 lump sum winner who still receives $1,000 per month in child care assistance for his three children.

The statistics come from a 2012 state law signed by Republican Gov. Rick Snyder that required the state to match a list of lottery winners of $1,000 or more with recipients of public assistance. The law was signed after two instances were reported of Michigan lottery winners using food stamps despite winning lump sum prizes of $700,000 and $850,000.

"With the match system, we can now identify substantial winnings, but the loopholes that allow lottery winners to continue to collect various benefits need to be closed, through amending state and federal law and policy," DHS Director Maura Corrigan said in a statement.

According to state figures, 14 percent of lottery winners are either welfare recipients or live in a household with recipients. DHS officials said they hope to create new laws and policies so that public assistance is ended for more lottery winners.

However, critics of the proposed plans say that needless money and time is being spent on a problem that affects few Michigan residents. Judy Putnam, spokeswoman for the Michigan League for Public Policy, said that unemployed lottery winners could use the additional public assistance to get back on their feet more quickly.

"We agree that big lottery winners should not be getting benefits designed to help people meet basic needs," said Putnam. But having said that, the cases that seem to be driving this - they're extremely unusual and rare. How much have we been spending to get to a few bad apples?"