That's not the way I read the statement at first, but maybe you're right.  I don't think that's fair.   Florida posts signs at the location to find the winner and has a download on its website. They usually start looking for the winner about 60 days before the 180 days period is up. Then they announce it on the local news. 

Todd once posted a story about a couple in Colorado who were watching the 11:00 news, heard that someone in their area won, so they checked their ticket.  I think they put it away & forgot about it.  Anyone remember that news article?  They got to a store and validated the ticket just before the midnight deadline, so the Colorado Lottery let them collect. 

"A lottery ticket is a bare instrument,"

Well, if you lose your shirt playing the lottery I guess that's true...

One lucky Powerball winner from Kansas isn't so lucky after the deadline expired for claiming a $200,000 prize.

Kansas Lottery officials said they heard some real doozies last week from people trying to grab a share of the unclaimed riches, but despite that, Friday's deadline passed without the winning ticket showing up.

Just because none could produce the winning ticket, it didn't prevent at least 100 people from trying to claim the money as their own.

"Some guy called twice — I'm not sure if he forgot he called," said lottery spokeswoman Sally Lunsford. "He said he was sure nobody is going to claim the ticket because he washed it."

The winning ticket for the Aug. 1, 2007, drawing was purchased at a store in northeast Kansas, but lottery officials aren't saying where. The deadline was 5 p.m. Friday to turn the ticket in.

Lunsford said one man claimed that he was "very familiar" with the winning numbers because his son had the ticket but was in Arizona for work and couldn't bring it in.

That didn't matter, either, she said, because the person who claimed the prize would have had to have the ticket in hand.

"A lottery ticket is a bare instrument," Lunsford said. "It belongs to whoever brings it in, and their name is signed on the back."

The ticket matched the first five Powerball numbers but not the Powerball number.

Lunsford said businesses that sell a winning ticket receive a bonus prize if the ticket is claimed, but the location won't be revealed if it is not.

Any jackpot money not claimed within 365 days of the drawing goes back into the prize pool, she said.

"It would have been fun to have someone find that ticket," Lunsford said.

Thanks to justxploring for the tip.

Lunsford said "A lottery ticket is a bare instrument" should be "a bearer instrument".

That's a good catch, and pretty funny too!  I'll bet it's actually the reporter's fault.  The reporter probably does not understand what a bearer instrument is and heard "bare instrument".  Funny!!