$122,000,000 In Lottery Prizes Go Unclaimed

Published:

Updated:

Unclaimed Lotto Money

Associated Press

Published: March 14 2008 - 11:39 am
Last Updated: March 14 2008 - 11:41 am

 

Unclaimed Lotto Money

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - The Florida Lottery has made a lot of millionaires - some who don't even know it.
The Lottery says nearly $122 million in prizes have gone unclaimed since the games started in 1988. Winners have six months
to claim prizes.


The largest unclaimed payout was a $50 million Lotto ticket sold in a South Florida market in 2003.                         

The rest of the five largest unclaimed jackpots aren't chump change either - ranging between $10-$20 million.


Most of the unclaimed winnings benefit state schools. The rest goes back into the lottery till.


March seems to be the month when luck develops amnesia. Tickets for three of Florida's largest unclaimed jackpots - a combined $85 million - were sold in March.

Entry #217

Comments

Avatar DrannyMa7 -
#1
It's the Leprechauns....they want their gold back in March. LOL!
Avatar justxploring -
#2
We've had many threads on this topic, and it's always mind boggling to me. Just the other night a woman in front of me who was buying a PB ticket found a crumpled up Lotto ticket in her purse and won $76.50 - guess she got 4 numbers out of 6. Anyway, she was happy and I congratulated her, but I wanted to tell her to be more careful (I didn't) because next time it might be $20 million!   The clerk had to practically iron her ticket to get it to scan.

The fact that March is the month when many jackpots go unclaimed isn't surprising to me at all. One reason is because Feb & Mar are the busiest months. I don't have the statistics, but in many coastal areas and retirement communities where retirees spend a few months each year, the population doubles. In wealthy beach communities like Marco Island, only 40-50% of homeowners are residents full-time. When I lived on Sanibel Island in the mid 1990s it increased from around 3,000 in the summer to over 10,000 in Feb & March.
Avatar konane -
#3
Likely many of us would walk to Florida from our respective locations for THAT much money!!! Hope someone checks their tickets before they expire.

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