Sometimes the news coverage on expiring prizes really does work
By Kate Northrop
CHICOPEE, Mass. — A Massachusetts woman dug through her junk drawer and found a $100,000 Mass Cash lottery ticket after her son informed her of a news story about an expiring ticket.
Sometimes, press releases and news stories about expiring lottery tickets really do work — they're how one Massachusetts woman was able to locate a missing Mass Cash ticket worth $100,000.
On April 10, the Massachusetts Lottery issued a press release warning players of a six-figure lottery prize that was due to expire in three weeks' time. If the winner didn't step forward with the winning ticket before May 1, 2025, it would become part of the net profit that the Lottery returns to the state.
Six days later, the Lottery published a very welcome update — the prize had been claimed.
The winner of the $100,000 Mass Cash prize was Margot Garstka of Chicopee, and it's thanks to the wide news coverage and her son that the winnings were united with their rightful owner.
After her son had tipped her off about a news story about an unclaimed ticket, she got down to looking.
"My son saw it on the news and said, 'Ma, you got a ticket in that drawer,' and we looked at the numbers, and they were right," Garstka told the Lottery.
She found the ticket sitting in her "junk drawer" alongside a couple of screwdrivers.
Garstka had received the Quick Pick ticket for free as part of the Lottery's "Fishin' for Quic Pics" promotion last spring when she made a qualifying purchase at Big Y on Memorial Drive in Chicopee. The "Fishin' for Quic Pics" promotion offered players a chance to receive a free Quick Pick play when they spent $4 or more on any draw or monitor game on a single ticket.
Her ticket matched all winning numbers in the May 1, 2024 drawing, which were 6, 11, 18, 24, and 26.
The lucky winner claimed her $100,000 prize on Tuesday, April 15 at the Massachusetts State Lottery's West Springfield claim center. Garstka will put the winnings towards her and her great grandchildren's savings.
The retailer received a $1,000 bonus from the Lottery for selling the winning ticket.
The odds of matching all five numbers in Mass Cash are 1 in 324,632. A full list of odds and corresponding prizes can be viewed on the Prizes and Odds page.
Mass Cash drawings take place every day at 9:00 p.m. EST, and results are available on the Massachusetts Lottery Results page. Each play costs $1.
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Her SON is responsible for her claiming the winning ticket in time, yet stated she will spend it on herself & her great grandchildren, NOT Her Son ... How Generous ((
Are you really that entitled? Perhaps her son makes a good salary and the great grandchildren need the money. You are assuming a lot of alleged facts that were not presented. If I told a family member to check a ticket, I cannot imagine it giving me a claim to a cent of the winnings.
I really hope a member of your family does not win the lottery. You would be suing them for part of it.
fwiw, Son should've kept his mouth shut and Took the ticket to the lottery office and claimed it for self
Wow. The greed and entitlement is palpable.
man, i hope that's just your dark humor. i cannot believe hearsetrax really condones stealing from granny!
LOLOL.. all this talk about granny and sons,etc brought back to mind an episode of me and my grandma (my dad's mom). When I was about 6, I was quite the brat, and proud of it. One day she had enough of my bratiness and conked me over the head with a broom. The hard part that holds the bristles. I settled down after that.
Kinda.
I have a granny and broom story also. Maybe we all do? I was about 3 and there was this black roof rat in the yard. I thought it was something to play with and supposedly headed towards it. My grandmother rushed out with a broom to whack it. That rat was jumping in the air higher than my little body. And I remember that thing clearly jumping.
I looked up the word obliviousness in the dictionary and there's a picture holding a display check!
* Margot's Son knew where his Mom had squirreled away her ticket. He could have cashed it in without her knowing about the win, but he was honest & did the right thing. Margot could have mentioned that her son declined any part of the win, instead she...
The winner had no obligation to give supporting justifications for who she shared her money.
She owed the press and public nothing.
The amazing thing about this story and others like it is that contrary to lottery players who make a conserted effort to win the lottery(safeguard the ticket/ check the result) this is what wins. Too often winning tickets are lost , misplaced or unchecked, and those are determined to be winners
Yep, I've seen these stories as well where people squirrel away their tickets in a drawer or shoebox. I don't get it........ but it happens.