By Todd Northrop
Someone who purchased a Mega Millions lottery ticket last August in Florida has forfeited a life-changing $36 million prize payout after the winning ticket expired last week.
No one stepped up to claim the prize from the August drawing before the Sunday, Feb. 11 deadline, rendering the Mega Millions lottery ticket void.
As a result, the winner has no chance of claiming the winnings — the ticket is now only worth the paper it was printed on, said Michelle Griner, a spokesperson with the Florida Lottery.
The Sunday deadline marked the end of the 180-day claim period following the Aug. 15, 2023 drawing. The winning ticket was purchased at a Publix in Jacksonville with the winning numbers 18, 39, 42, 57, and 63, with Mega Ball number 7. The Megaplier multiplier was 3.
This was the only unclaimed Mega Millions jackpot ticket in 2023, according to the Mega Millions website.
But there is some good news in all this — the funds from this unclaimed ticket are going to a worthy cause.
Florida law requires that 80% of the unclaimed prize funds be transferred to a trust fund for education, with the remainder being held for the prize pool for future drawings, according the state lottery. Using that math formula, 80% of $36 million is $28.8 million (which goes to education), and 20% is $7.2 million (going back to future prizes).
Unfortunately, it was the second massive jackpot won in the state of Florida to expire last year. A $44 million Florida Lotto jackpot expired at midnight Monday, Dec. 11, 2023.
That makes a total of $80 million in just 2 drawings taking place in the span of 2 months that went unclaimed in the state of Florida.
Mega Millions drawings take place every Tuesday and Friday at 11:00 pm Eastern Time (8:00 pm Pacific). The current Mega Millions jackpot is $493 million, set to be drawn tonight.
All winning numbers, prizes and odds can be found at USA Mega immediately after each drawing, and on Lottery Post's Lottery Results page.
WOW...another huge jackpot gone.
We just got Publix here in Louisville...seems like Florida Publix sells a few huge jackpots. One is going to be built about 8 miles from me...not only will I try one of their subs but will play the lotto there too.
This will happen again the formula being the number of tickets sold divided by the percentage of careless people.
Partial end to this debacle is if lotteries would give their customers what most want---on-line sales.
Of course this is null and void for folks like me who play in states traveling through!
ANOTHER ONE...
How many jackpots has that been of the last 10 years ?
Some people buy and forget about the tickets they have purchased. I wonder how many jackpots over the past 20 years have not been claimed across the USA?
The person probably passed is my guess.
I wonder what the total value of all unclaimed jackpots would be.
With a medical emergency, checking lottery tickets takes low priority.
There was a large number of excess deaths in 2023 in the US, so that increases the odds that the lost prize was due to medical issues. A high number of excess deaths in 2023 also occurred in Canada, New Zealand, Australia, the UK , and other countries.
* It was not meant to be claimed, no other way to put it!
I came to the same conclusion I'm a pick 3 player in over time Ive noticed how the game is finessed for profit someones getting a nice check I wish it was me lol
"This was the only unclaimed Mega Millions jackpot ticket in 2023 "
Only one? With just 6 jackpots in 2023 what are the odds that only 16.67% of them would go unclaimed?
"Using that math formula, 80% of $36 million is $28.8 million (which goes to education), and 20% is $7.2 million (going back to future prizes). "
Using a better formula 80% is $13.92 million because they're probably not going to put that money in to a 29 year annuity.
I doubt online sales will solve the problem of forgotten leading to expired tickets. I have read that some people play online have gotten emails from lottery HQ, telling them that they won but they thought the email was a scam. Also too, there are people that do not bother to check their emails either. There is no guaranteed way to stop the now epidemic of expired lottery tickets.
I think online sales would help a lot. In the cases where people were contacted via email, at least the winner eventually realized it was legitimate. It costs the lottery far less time and effort and money to reach a known person vs advertising for an unclaimed ticket.
Yes you are right about that. I wonder would it be better to eventually realize that a winning lottery email was legitimate even after one has let the ticket expire. It would be a total heartbreak. I read several years ago about a guy who played a certain lottery number faithfully for years. One day for whatever reason he forgot to play the number. The number hit for a huge jackpot and the guy's son said his father was never right mentally after that.