Deadline Passes For Unclaimed $100K Lottery Ticket

Dec 19, 2005, 7:18 am (9 comments)

Powerball

Time, and luck, has run out for whoever bought a Powerball ticket worth $100,000 last summer at a northern Indiana gas station.

Wednesday's deadline for redeeming the ticket passed with no one claiming their prize, which would have paid off around $75,000 after taxes, Hoosier Lottery officials said.

The ticket, which matched five of six numbers in the drawing, was purchased at a D-Mart store in Lake County's Calumet Township for the June 18 Powerball drawing.

Store manager Pali Singh said his customers had been searching their pockets, cars and homes in hopes of finding the six-month-old ticket since lottery officials announced the prize deadline was nearing last week.

"I had customers saying they thought they had that ticket. I can't believe it," he said.

Nationwide, 86 other ticket holders won the $100,000 Match 5 prize in the June 18 drawing, but the D-Mart ticket was the only one that wasn't cashed in.

Winners have 180 days from the date of the drawing to cash in their ticket, but each year, more than $10 million in prizes go unclaimed from all Hoosier Lottery games, said spokesman Andrew Reed. The largest unclaimed jackpot was a $50 million prize from a 2002 drawing, he said.

"It happens every once in a while," Reed said.

AP

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Raven62's avatarRaven62

Someone will be mighty disappointed if they ever find out they had a Winner and didn't Cash it in.

 

CASH Only

Someone will be mighty disappointed if they ever find out they had a Winner and didn't Cash it in.

 

Do you think he/she/they thought PB was computerized like the Hoosier Lottery games?

RJOh's avatarRJOh

Someone will be mighty disappointed if they ever find out they had a Winner and didn't Cash it in.

 

They would be more disappointed if they found out someone else found it and cashed it in as in this story: https://www.lotterypost.com/news/124995.htm

This way there's no big trial with large lawyer fees and the state keep the money.

justxploring's avatarjustxploring

"The largest unclaimed jackpot was a $50 million prize from a 2002 drawing, he said."

There are some things in life I will never understand. As I've written before, these people must be dead.  I'm not trying to sound morbid, but many millions of people purchase lottery tickets, so who knows?  Maybe this is my way of rationalizing since I'd find it too hard to believe that there are people alive and breathing who buy tickets, win jackpots I only dream about and don't claim them.

DoctorEw220's avatarDoctorEw220

I swear sometimes it seems as if IN keeps reporting winners just for the heck of it, just to get people to play.

LOTTOMIKE's avatarLOTTOMIKE

I swear sometimes it seems as if IN keeps reporting winners just for the heck of it, just to get people to play.

i believe this too.i would vote indiana as the worst lottery on anyday of the week.........

RJOh's avatarRJOh

I swear sometimes it seems as if IN keeps reporting winners just for the heck of it, just to get people to play.

If they reported no body ever win the lottery in Indiana, would people continue to play?  It's not their fault if people buy winning tickets and don't bother to check them. 

Maybe they should come up with a game for those players who like to buy lottery tickets and not check them.  They could print "You Lost" on every tickets and not offer a prize to win, that way those people could enjoy the thrill of buying lottery tickets and know they don't have to waste time checking them and the state could keep 100% of the money.

CASH Only

I swear sometimes it seems as if IN keeps reporting winners just for the heck of it, just to get people to play.

If they reported no body ever win the lottery in Indiana, would people continue to play?  It's not their fault if people buy winning tickets and don't bother to check them. 

Maybe they should come up with a game for those players who like to buy lottery tickets and not check them.  They could print "You Lost" on every tickets and not offer a prize to win, that way those people could enjoy the thrill of buying lottery tickets and know they don't have to waste time checking them and the state could keep 100% of the money.

People in NY and Texas who choose annual payments should have their ticket printed immediately with "YOU LOSE"!!

demonter

"The largest unclaimed jackpot was a $50 million prize from a 2002 drawing, he said."

There are some things in life I will never understand. As I've written before, these people must be dead.  I'm not trying to sound morbid, but many millions of people purchase lottery tickets, so who knows?  Maybe this is my way of rationalizing since I'd find it too hard to believe that there are people alive and breathing who buy tickets, win jackpots I only dream about and don't claim them.

Hard to believe. People forget to check their tickets, then lose them; people figure "what are the chances that I won"? and toss tickets away without carefully checking the numbers. Who knows? And, yes of course, people buy lottery tickets and die before they check them...do you think their relatives bother with "dumb lottery tickets"? It's crazy. So millions go unclaimed.

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