$1 million lottery ticket went unnoticed for over a month
By Kate Northrop
NORTHVILLE, Mich. — A Michigan woman didn't realize she was in possession of a lottery ticket worth $1 million for six weeks.
Eileen Wickett, of Northville, won $1 million in the lottery, but had no clue for well over a month before she claimed her prize.
Wickett had matched all five white ball numbers in the Powerball drawing on Feb. 6, which were 5, 11, 22, 23, and 69. She was just one number shy of the $754.6 million jackpot, which was won and claimed by one player in Washington.
While Wickett was unaware of her win for six weeks, she's made sure she never misses a single drawing.
"I always play the same sets of numbers and I use the subscription feature so that I don't miss a drawing," she told the Michigan Lottery. "I saw an email from the Lottery informing me I'd won a prize, but it didn't say how much I'd won, so I assumed it was a few dollars."
Thanks to her subscription, Wickett doesn't feel the need to log on to her account to buy her tickets, and that is exactly how one major win went by the wayside for so long.
"Since I have a subscription and my tickets are automatically purchased, I didn't log on to my account for a while," the winner explained. "It wasn't until six weeks after I'd won that I logged into my account and saw a $1 million prize pending. It was such an awesome feeling! I called my kids right away to tell them the good news."
Last week, the Lottery announced that Wickett visited their headquarters in Lansing to collect her prize, which she says she'll use to complete home improvements, take a vacation, and share with family.
The Powerball jackpot currently stands at $219 million for the drawing on Sat., April 15 at 10:59 pm EST. Tickets cost $2 each.
Powerball lottery results are published within minutes of the drawing at USA Mega (www.usamega.com). The USA Mega Web site provides lottery players in-depth information about the United States's two biggest multi-state lottery games, Mega Millions and Powerball.
They could have done a better job of informing her of her win, instead of a vague email telling her she's a winner. Maybe they were hoping for the year expiration.
* Do a better job how TN? They alerted her by letting her know " she won" as opposed to not bringing it to her attention at all. Her problem was not " logging in" earlier to check whether she had money coming to her or not. They not in the babysitting business & l take it Eileen is an adult.
* Nevertheless - she caught it in time, so as the saying goes " alls well that ends well."
I agree with Tony Numbers. My state lottery notifies you with an email noting the exact amount of the win. I think a reasonable person would have assumed it was a minor win without more information. More detail was needed for such a large win. It was sloppy work by the lottery.
People have busy lives and careers and not everyone logs into the lottery website daily or weekly. I only play on occasion and sometimes not for months.
* Not in the business of beating a dead horse- BUT if you play the lottery, it's incumbent upon YOU to check your tickets to see whether you won or not. If you play occasionally & don't check for months - well that's your problem. Take responsibility for goodness sake, in other words- grow a p*
And perhaps she is not into pronoun changing.
***Looks like someone is on the prowl again with that "reference."***
I do agree. I have never relied on clerks or anyone else to tell me I won, I always check my own tickets. Before we could check onilne, I watched the live drawings or called the lottery information number to get the numbers. Later, I checked them on the web. Today, I use the scan feature on the Louisiana Lottery app. I don't trust anyone to check to my tickets for me, too many things can go wrong.
"I saw an email from the Lottery informing me I'd won a prize, but it didn't say how much I'd won, so I assumed it was a few dollars."
Sure doesn't look like she was complaining because the lottery people didn't show up with the U. of Michigan marching band.
"Nevertheless - she caught it in time, so as the saying goes " alls well that ends well."
It's not like the ticket expired before she checked the account. Don't know if any lottery has a "all winning tickets will expire in less than six weeks" rule but the Michigan Lottery does not. Of course there are players that believe taking a couple seconds out of their (cough cough) busy lives to check the tickets they bought trying to win multi million jackpots is asking too much.
The store where I usually buy lottery tickets has a monitor that shows exactly how much each ticket is worth. And clerks always ask if I want the tickets back. The store also has a scanner and two kiosk machines to check tickets.
With all the ways to easily check tickets, especially when they know the ticket is a winner and the fact a Michigan ticket won't expire for a year, "no harm, no foul".
I'm probably at the other end of the "check my ticket" spectrum. I check my tickets right after the draw.
I also know that Tx Lottery Commission is not going to shoot me an e-mail about any winning ticket (they can't), and I know some states do have players info to contact them. There is a winning $1 million PB ticket that was purchased in Paris (TX) last October that still hasn't been claimed and the TLC posted a notice on the website. They're not babysitters, they've done what they can. I just feel when I spend money on a ticket, it's on me to check it.
The headline of the story is a bit misleading. The reader is thinking a misplaced physical ticket. When in fact she played the game in the safest way by doing it online. You think that with all the social media meddling that there would be a method in which the lottery could have alerted her to get her arse downto and pick up yet million bucks.
Right there with you Rcb.... Always check them the next day..But I am tending to agree with ole noise-gate on this one. It is your responsibility to check your tickets, after all, she did purchase them. By the way the article was written, it sure doesn't seem that it was a gift ticket of some sort. The constant hand-holding of folks today is atrocious. It's one thing if you are dealing with a legal battle and need representation but c'mon Irene, its the lottery and you were sent a notice. At 60 you are normally a bit more a tuned to financial dealings. What do you want to bet she pays a bit more attention to the drawings from now on ? Especially since one might have a million dollar document in their possession.... She has her $$ and thats what is important. Good for you Irene !!! Congrats and enjoy.
We live in a country full of grown children and people with no personal accountability. Like you said, she was informed of her wins. She didn't check and that's not the lottery's fault. These are more likely auto generated emails that are triggered when a prize is won.
I buy my tickets, I don't fold them, I keep them safe , I check the tickets to the results. I enjoy revealing any winners, which doesn't happen often. Yet there is always a winner who loses/ misplaced Thier ticket. Seems the more oblivious one is the better Thier chances of winning
At first I thought this was going to be one of those, I found the winning ticket in my glove compartment/kitchen drawer stories. lol
Myself, I check my tickets right away, usually within a couple of hours of the drawing at the latest. How can anyone go 6 weeks without checking especially if you play every drawing? There are enough ways to find out the winning numbers without having to depend on the lottery to email you. Imagine if the email had gone to her spam folder and she just deleted it.
Anyway, congrats to her and I hope she pays a little more attention to what happens to her money.