Millions in lottery winnings go unclaimed each year

Comment #48

jamella724 — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 05:28:34 GMT

you should check your ticket maybe you are the winner..

Comment #47

jamella724 — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 06:22:48 GMT

I will not go for online lottery theres no assurance of winning..just a thought

Comment #46

PlayToWin47 — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 07:42:56 GMT

I quite often even check the unclaimed prizes page for the game I play ... just in case I missed something.

Comment #45

PlayToWin47 — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 07:35:54 GMT

Heck yeah

Comment #44

RedStang — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 06:33:23 GMT

Got thinking about this article today. Someone at work dropped a PB ticket for Saturdays draw. Most peeps don't realize what their holding and get careless. See it all the time. Pretty sure i know who bought it. Took a pic and put it away.

Comment #43

Factorem — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 19:39:48 GMT

Very well said and I agree with all that you wrote.

Your last paragraph points out another very important point which is:

When a customer enters a store to conduct business, the customer in effect enters into an agreement that consents his or her rights to the rules of the store, which includes, but are not not limited to the capture of the customer's activities, by the clearly visible security camera in the store.

I believe that the clear visibility of the camera meets any requirements... [ More ]

Comment #42

KY Floyd — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 16:34:31 GMT

Here's that dose of reality you need. Freedom of speech means that your right to say or publish something is generally not restricted simply because the person you're speaking about wishes you wouldn't do it. For the most part, when you're in a public place anybody can take your picture and make any non-commercial use of it that they want to, so long as they don't slander or libel you. Slandering you requires making a claim that something is true when it's not. A billboard with your picture sayi... [ More ]

Comment #41

haymaker — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 00:36:06 GMT

WOW, gotta call my buddy Tom in Lantana

Comment #40

Ronnie316 — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 21:03:14 GMT

Comment #39

Ronnie316 — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 21:02:50 GMT

Comment #38

Ronnie316 — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 21:02:25 GMT

Comment #37

Ronnie316 — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 20:59:16 GMT

Thank you for sharing your opinion mediabrat.

Comment #36

Coin Toss — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 20:11:49 GMT

Justx,

...or I am currently experiencing an extended senior moment, it would be okay with me if my picture was splattered all over the news with the caption This lady bought the winning ticket at Winn-Dixie.

Rod Serling couldn't outdo that

Comment #35

Coin Toss — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 20:09:58 GMT

The baby alligators thye buy at the toursit places eat those tickets on the way back up north.

Talk on the street has it that those baby alligators are in fact agents working for the Florida lottery.

Then when the people get back up north they panic about having an alligator and flush them down the toilet.

They grow and grow sand terrorize the subway workers.

Comment #34

justxploring — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 06:37:17 GMT

Right now there's a Florida Fantasy-5 ticket that will expire in a few days. It's worth $193,282.52. I know I didn't buy it, because it was purchased in Lantana and I've never been there. Anyway, if I happened to be in Palm Beach County for some reason on July 30 and I forgot about it, or I am currently experiencing an extended senior moment, it would be okay with me if my picture was splattered all over the news with the caption This lady bought the winning ticket at Winn-Dixie.... [ More ]

Comment #33

Factorem — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 06:47:04 GMT

First of all you have to deal with specifics and stay focused with the condition and situation that you have. In this case, CA, a non-anonymous state published an image of a purported lottery winner and the presumed fault with the CA lottery for such an action.

The winner's handbook is not the entire lottery rules. It is however based on aspects of the Lottery rules. The winners handbook is a public relations maneuver by the lottery to keep players hopes high, though it is based on the lotter... [ More ]

Comment #32

mediabrat — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 03:57:52 GMT

(Ronnie's not the only one who can rattle off multiple posts in a row with nothing but useless emoticons.

Comment #31

mediabrat — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 03:56:29 GMT

Comment #30

mediabrat — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 03:55:42 GMT

Comment #29

mediabrat — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 03:54:42 GMT

That explains everything.

Comment #28

Ronnie316 — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 02:33:17 GMT

No rule is a good rule.

Comment #27

helpmewin — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 02:31:56 GMT

Comment #26

Ronnie316 — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 02:30:43 GMT

Comment #25

helpmewin — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 02:27:55 GMT

Comment #24

Ronnie316 — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 02:23:36 GMT

We don't need no stinkin rules........

Comment #23

Ronnie316 — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 02:22:26 GMT

........ In a very big way............

Comment #22

helpmewin — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 02:20:52 GMT

Comment #21

Ronnie316 — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 02:01:25 GMT

If we make our I agree sign BIGGER, does it mean we agree more

Comment #20

Ronnie316 — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 02:00:08 GMT

Comment #19

helpmewin — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 23:59:39 GMT

Comment #18

noise-gate — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 23:53:23 GMT

If what you say is true there would be no need for handbooks or rules. People can make it up as they go along.

Its a known or perhaps unknown fact that there are but a handful of states that allow their residents to claim their prizes anonymously. What if they decided that you can remain anonymously however they are going to print your name as the winner. Would you say that is acceptable?

This jackpot was less than 45 days unclaimed and they posting his picture? In California you have up t... [ More ]

Comment #17

Factorem — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 16:18:00 GMT

If the store had a court order, the Store would have had no choice, but to turn over the security tape, unless it has a ton of money that it can expect to loose and hired Lawyers to have fought the CA Courts and their weapons loaded sheriffs or Marshalls.

Besides, the store may be under a contract to turn over the tape as part of the lottery security arrangements it had with the CA lottery.

I suspect that both the Store and the Lottery were all in compliance with the

Store lottery retai... [ More ]

Comment #16

Factorem — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 16:02:36 GMT

What is in the winner's handbook are only partial to the larger governing rules of the CA Lottery.

At the time the CA lottery published the image with the media, they had no winner who had filed a claim with them, and there is no violation of your citation of page 8 of the CA lottery winners's Handbook. They had no name or verified provable image of the winner.

The person that bought a winning lottery ticket may not always be the actual or final winner(s). In fact recently on these posts,... [ More ]

Comment #15

whiteballz — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 12:41:29 GMT

from page 8 of the winner's handbook available at the official California Lottery website:

California Lottery is subject to public disclosure laws that allow access to certain governmental records. Your full name, the name and location of the retailer who sold the winning ticket, the date you won, and the amount of your winnings, including your gross and net installment payments, are matters of public record and are subject to disclo- sure. The Lottery will not disclose any other personal or... [ More ]

Comment #14

Factorem — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 08:56:57 GMT

California Lottery may very well have the full rights to do what they did.

Buying a lottery ticket in CA or in any other State constitutes a surrender of a player's rights to the rules of the Lottery, that owns and operates the lottery that sold the player the ticket.

Without knowing, what all is in the CA lottery rules, I would suspect that the right of the CA lottery to do what it did is somewhere in their lottery rules rights

Comment #13

justxploring — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 07:36:49 GMT

Florida seems to have a lot of unclaimed tickets. I think it's because of all the tourists. Many of them are large jackpots too.

Comment #12

helpmewin — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 07:29:37 GMT

maybe you don't like that idea, but if you going anywhere now days in public all you have is the right to remain silent and you better smile because u are on camera somewhere. and it's for your safety case you get lost the people can help you get back home.

Comment #11

whiteballz — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 07:19:14 GMT

The California lottery had no right to release the winner's surveillance photo, especially only after one month after the drawing. What I'm saying is there might be a reason to release the surveillance photo under extreme circumstances, like if a multi-million dollar ticket was set to expire in a month.

Comment #10

noise-gate — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 01:27:07 GMT

You correct about this guy - however that store and the state had no reason to out that guy in the manner in which they did no matter how they want to explain it. The store keeper got his money and had no business handing in the surveillance tape of the winner which l thought was totally unprofessional.

The Californian State lottery rules are to expose the name and the location of the store that sold the ticket. There is nothing about putting your picture on tv or even talking to the press ab... [ More ]

Comment #9

Jill34786 — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 18:55:12 GMT

Given the choice between publicity or having a winning jackpot expire, I would gladly let my name be known. Fortunately, I only play a few times per year so verifying my tickets isn't too much of a problem.

Comment #8

whiteballz — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 17:58:44 GMT

I remember reading an article about Bladimir Agnite, a man who bought a winning Mega Millions jackpot ticket in California. One month after the drawing the winner didn't come forward, the California lottery commission decided to post surveillance pictures of Bladimir Agnite buying the ticket all over the newspapers and all over their website.

I'd say one month was way too soon but if someone doesn't come forward after 11 months, I think releasing surveillance pictures would be a good idea.... [ More ]

Comment #7

RJOh — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 17:52:09 GMT

Logging into a lottery website, creating a membership and buying advance plays doesn't make winning any easier so why would that be unappealing to those who want to win? Automatic checking of my tickets would be incentive enough for me to buy my tickets that way if it was available in my state.

Comment #6

rdgrnr — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 17:15:48 GMT

in most U.S.A. States, a player can log into their state's lottery headquarter website, create a membership, buy advance play drawing(s)

In most states

Comment #5

HaveABall — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 16:57:04 GMT

True, Ronnie316, in most U.S.A. States, a player can log into their state's lottery headquarter website, create a membership, buy advance play drawing(s), pay with debit card, credit card, checking account funds, and the database will keep track of those $3 or whatever winning draw lines that you've previously purchased. Nothing falls through the cracks!.

However, the bad/vital news is that nobody that has been playing this way has won a M.M. or Powerball JACKPOT or 2ND PLACE prize thus far... [ More ]

Comment #4

dallascowboyfan — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 16:05:19 GMT

Awesome, Oklahoma needs that.

Comment #3

dallascowboyfan — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 16:04:15 GMT

Millions in lottery winnings go unclaimed each year That's why I check my tickets every draw......

Comment #2

helpmewin — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 14:59:49 GMT

Comment #1

Ronnie316 — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 14:02:37 GMT

There's one advantage to online games...... They inform you when you win and send you the money......

Millions in lottery winnings go unclaimed each year

Lottery Post — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 13:47:19 GMT

It is hard for some to believe, but even as some Americans dream of hitting it big in the Lotto, Powerball, and Mega Millions jackpots, for some it might have happened and whizzed by unnoticed.

Happens all the time, says Illinois Lottery chief Michael Jones. People misinterpret whether they won or lost. People misplace tickets all the time.

Jones said the lottery estimates about one percent of all lottery prizes go unclaimed. And, considering the Illinois games raked in about $3 billion