Players are not the only ones to lose out on winnings: retailers lose too
By Kate Northrop
The South Dakota Lottery is looking for two missing winners of $2 million and $500,000 Powerball prizes, whose winnings will expire soon if they don't come forward to claim them.
There's not much time left on the clock to claim a $2 million and a $500,000 Powerball prize, both of which are set to expire in a little over a month.
Someone in South Dakota purchased a winning ticket for the Aug. 23, 2025 Powerball drawing at Gas N More on West Grand Xing in Mobridge. That ticket matched all white ball numbers 11, 14, 34, 47, and 51, but missed the red Powerball number 18. The ticket was purchased with the Power Play option for an extra dollar, doubling their $1 million second-tier prize to $2 million.
The second unclaimed ticket also matched five numbers, but in the Powerball Double Play drawing on Aug. 27, 2025. It matched all five numbers — 12, 19, 26, 51, and 62 — to win $500,000 but missed the red Powerball number 18 to win the $10 million prize. That ticket was purchased at Hy Vee Gas on West 26th Street in Sioux Falls.
Lottery winners in South Dakota have 180 days from the draw date to claim prizes, or they risk the winnings being allocated to the South Dakota Lottery's Unclaimed Prize Fund. Money distributed there helps fund prizes for future games, according to the Lottery.
The ticketholder for the $2 million Powerball prize has until Feb. 19, 2026 to claim their prize, while the $500,000 Powerball Double Play winner has until Feb. 23, 2026.
Unfortunately, the retailers who sold the winning tickets will also not see their bonus commission if these players do not manage to claim their prize. Retailers receive incentives for selling winning tickets, but only if the prizes are claimed, the Lottery advised.
Should the $2 million winner come forward, the corresponding retailer will receive a $25,000 bonus. The retailer that sold the $500,000 winning ticket would receive $10,000.
Whoever is holding onto those tickets can claim their prize by bringing them to a Lottery validation center either on East Wells Avenue in Pierre or on South Western Avenue in Sioux Falls.
The next Powerball annuity jackpot estimate for the drawing on Saturday, Jan. 17 currently stands at $179 million.
Powerball is currently offered for sale in 45 states, plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings are Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays at 10:59 p.m. Eastern Time. Tickets cost $2 each.
Powerball lottery results are published within minutes of the drawing at USA Mega (www.usamega.com). The USA Mega website provides lottery players in-depth information about the United States' two biggest multi-state lottery games, Mega Millions and Powerball.
Certainly not the case of folks waiting for the new tax year to cash in...tickets are most likely long lost!
"Retailers receive incentives for selling winning tickets, but only if the prizes are claimed, the Lottery advised. "
I don't get it.
* Neither do l. A winner not coming forward is not the retailer's problem, they fulfilled their end of the bargain. That won't fly in CA, what if the winner dies before claiming the prize? Time to get a lawyer.
Way off subject, so I apologize.
KY lottery just announced the last day of Lucky for Life will be Feb 21, 2026 to make way for the new game.
I'm wondering if the player that won two million knows they won and is waiting until the bitter end to claim it.
Could they be thinking that when they claim, the win was six months ago so most of the public will have long forgotten it.
In Florida, where I'm located, players can claim anonymously for 90 days. If a player waited to the last day to claim and claimed anonymously for 90 days, that'd be a total of nine months from the date of the win. Sure, the Florida Lottery would eventually blab all over their website who won, but at least the player would have had a 9 month head start on disappearing from sight.
Then there's this - who can ignore 2 million dollars sitting and waiting for them for six months??? I doubt I could. Can you do it? G5
Different states different rules. In most states the retailers receive a percentage even if the ticket goes unclaimed. SD is the exception. The retailers know this going in. Most states also give a 5-8% commission on the sale of each lottery ticket. In any state with unclaimed tickets the money goes back to the state, to the lottery, to state programs. Depends on the state.
If I win, can I remain anonymous?
Should a lottery prize winner choose to remain anonymous when claiming the prize, the South Dakota Lottery will honor that request. It should also be noted that the Lottery will release the name of the retailer that sold the winning ticket, game name and prize amount.
The winning player’s personal information will never be shared for advertising or promotions unless the player opts into this on their claim form. However, if the Lottery receives an open records request for the winner’s information, we are obligated to provide the winner’s name, city, state of residence, game, and prize amount per https://sdlegislature.gov/Statutes/42-7A-50.1
The problem with waiting to the last possible moment to collect your winnings is that the lotto brings the story to the press about the winning ticket having limited time to be claimed and thus the whole story gets regurgitated and such. There will be two news cycles involved: one for the unclaimed announcement and two for the winning claim.
I think the key time to claim is before the lottery makes that unclaimed announcement whatever your guess on that is .... maybe month four if you have six months to claim or month eight if you have a year but again to each their own
Have a shaggy day
ShagE3
Remembering what the California lottery did years ago with a multi-million lottery prize. They put the video/stills up of the lady purchasing the winning ticket. Essentially outing her instead of giving her the chance to come forward. That was wrong! It was nowhere near expiration date either.
It all depends on the state that sold the ticket. In California in 2021 a winning 26 million dollar Superlotto Plus ticket was sold at a store. A woman came forward and said she has the winning ticket but it had been destroyed. she accidentally left it in her pants pocket when she did the wash. The woman is known to frequent the store and video cameras show her buying the ticket but since she no longer had the physical ticket she could not claim the money but the store DID receive the 130K bonus for selling the winning ticket.
Here's a link to the California story, confirming the ticket was washed in the laundry and that the store received their commission nevertheless.
https://www.lotterypost.com/news/336927 (May 17, 2021)