$17 million in Ohio Lottery scratch prizes unclaimed

Jan 15, 2007, 2:18 pm (18 comments)

Ohio Lottery

Ohioans won $17 million and never bothered to collect their prizes.

The Ohio Lottery says that's the amount that went unclaimed from instant scratch-off tickets during the fiscal year that ended in June. Players have about six months to redeem winning tickets, and officials say about one out of every 50 was never cashed in.

Unclaimed prize money is kept in the pot to pay off winners who do come forward.

Lottery spokeswoman Mardele Cohen says if you have a scratch-off and aren't sure whether it's worth anything, you can find out by having it scanned at a store that sells lottery tickets.

Lottery Post Staff

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cps10's avatarcps10

This is assinine....how on earth does this much go unclaimed? If you're going to buy a ticket and just say screw it, why buy it?

Jani Norman's avatarJani Norman

Quote: Originally posted by cps10 on Jan 15, 2007

This is assinine....how on earth does this much go unclaimed? If you're going to buy a ticket and just say screw it, why buy it?

I would just like to know where the winning tickets are being sold that can total up to this amount of money, the only thing i can find are all the 1.00 tickets and i know they will never total to that amount....

cps10's avatarcps10

Quote: Originally posted by Jani Norman on Jan 15, 2007

I would just like to know where the winning tickets are being sold that can total up to this amount of money, the only thing i can find are all the 1.00 tickets and i know they will never total to that amount....

Employee smuggling...lol

DoubleDown

I think a lot of these are / were put in the trash.
People make mistakes when checking them..... They overlook winners.........

I know one game here in GA that unless you know how to play Texas Hold-em, you can throw away winners real easily...
I know one person that loves to buy them, but cannot play the game, so she only scratches the code off on the bottom of the ticket, then hands it to the clerk to see if it is a winner.

Todd's avatarTodd

Quote: Originally posted by DoubleDown on Jan 15, 2007

I think a lot of these are / were put in the trash.
People make mistakes when checking them..... They overlook winners.........

I know one game here in GA that unless you know how to play Texas Hold-em, you can throw away winners real easily...
I know one person that loves to buy them, but cannot play the game, so she only scratches the code off on the bottom of the ticket, then hands it to the clerk to see if it is a winner.

I agree with this statement 100%.

Many scratch games are WAY too complicated to figure out if you're a winner or not.

What's the point?  Is it really that exciting to see if the pre-printed game card contains a certain number of symbols in the right order?

I would rather scratch off the gray area to reveal one of two possible words:

WIN

~ or ~

LOSE

Can't the lottery come out with a game like that, and then compare the sales and prize redemption statistics with one of their wacky crossword puzzle games?  I'll bet my game would do better.

fja's avatarfja

You think that they want it to be easier,,,I doubt it...I'm sure they have a line item in the misc. revenue column of their budget called unclaimed tickets....and I'm sure they budget for more and more to hit that line item every year....

" We use the unclaimed money to pay those that do come forward  and claim the tickets"  isn't that what she said.....

DoubleDown

Quote: Originally posted by Todd on Jan 15, 2007

I agree with this statement 100%.

Many scratch games are WAY too complicated to figure out if you're a winner or not.

What's the point?  Is it really that exciting to see if the pre-printed game card contains a certain number of symbols in the right order?

I would rather scratch off the gray area to reveal one of two possible words:

WIN

~ or ~

LOSE

Can't the lottery come out with a game like that, and then compare the sales and prize redemption statistics with one of their wacky crossword puzzle games?  I'll bet my game would do better.

Todd, good idea, but it would be too easy..

There is a bingo scratch game in GA that literally takes 10-15 minutes to see if you win or lose.
If part of the fun is "playing the game" then I guess that satisfies some..

Like Fja said, the Lottery Commission counts on player ignorance/ indifference to keep a percentage of the money......excellent point.

RJOh's avatarRJOh

"Unclaimed prize money is kept in the pot to pay off winners who do come forward."

I take that to mean the games as designed don't plan on all the winners claiming their prizes so the unclaimed money make up the difference if they do. 

I've noticed the $1 tickets are the easiest to understand, they usually have nine symbols and if three of them are the same then you have a winner.  It's those $10-$20 tickets with several games or ways to win that are confusing.

cps10's avatarcps10

Quote: Originally posted by DoubleDown on Jan 15, 2007

Todd, good idea, but it would be too easy..

There is a bingo scratch game in GA that literally takes 10-15 minutes to see if you win or lose.
If part of the fun is "playing the game" then I guess that satisfies some..

Like Fja said, the Lottery Commission counts on player ignorance/ indifference to keep a percentage of the money......excellent point.

Those are the only scratchers I play ... the bingo games. I enjoy playing those...the others I couldn't give a squirt of you-know-what for. My wife loves all scratchers...especially those involving jewelry or gemstones...lol. And loves the Monopoly games. I'm surprised she hasn't hit me up for the $5 American Idol scratcher here yet...

DoubleDown

Quote: Originally posted by cps10 on Jan 16, 2007

Those are the only scratchers I play ... the bingo games. I enjoy playing those...the others I couldn't give a squirt of you-know-what for. My wife loves all scratchers...especially those involving jewelry or gemstones...lol. And loves the Monopoly games. I'm surprised she hasn't hit me up for the $5 American Idol scratcher here yet...

American Idol scratcher ?
Please don't tell me that you scratch to reveal Paula, Randy, or Simon ???
Paula I would be ok with, but Simon...yuck.

cps10's avatarcps10

Quote: Originally posted by DoubleDown on Jan 16, 2007

American Idol scratcher ?
Please don't tell me that you scratch to reveal Paula, Randy, or Simon ???
Paula I would be ok with, but Simon...yuck.

LOL...I have no idea...I just saw one the other day when I was picking up Powerball tickets...

DoubleDown

I am going to get my PB tix later today..
I will look for it ...   might even play it just for the heck of it...
DD

SassyOhio's avatarSassyOhio

Ok I am really gonna puke now..Crying   And you guys are right. Just like the Texas Holdem here in Ohio.  DEAR LAWD! They will give you heart failure in a heart beat lol.  I play holdem all the time and know the rules of the winning hands and they arent like that on the scratch offs so I can see games like that how winners get missed. I seen this and just put my head down I am glad I dont know where they were bought at cause then I would really want to shoot myself LMAO  so looks as if no matter what from seeing this even if I KNOW that its a loser I am gonna get it scanned anyhow

Toney725's avatarToney725

Quote: Originally posted by DoubleDown on Jan 15, 2007

Todd, good idea, but it would be too easy..

There is a bingo scratch game in GA that literally takes 10-15 minutes to see if you win or lose.
If part of the fun is "playing the game" then I guess that satisfies some..

Like Fja said, the Lottery Commission counts on player ignorance/ indifference to keep a percentage of the money......excellent point.

DD;

I buy the Bingo game a lot, but rather than scratching all the numbers to see if I've won, I just scratch the caller's card and read the code.  If I see a "F", "I" & "V" then I know that I just won $5.  "T", "E" & "N" , "F", "T" & "N", "T", "I", "C" etc...

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