Iowa Lottery officials track down $1 million winner

Comment #30

Marilyn222 — Fri, 30 May 2014 19:00:17 GMT

Amazing indeed. Doesn't it the ticket has the time it was purchased, the date, the clerk's number, etc...not to mention the camera and they could also capture the plate number of the car with the camera outside if ever he also purchased a gas

Comment #29

psykomo — Tue, 27 May 2014 20:51:16 GMT

Richard Watson of Belton Missouri claimed his $1000,000

PowerBall prize after Iowa Lottery tracked him down !!!!

Kum Go worked hard with UMB in Mo. and Kum Go got their man !!!

HOW did they DO that

Comment #28

EdG1955 — Fri, 23 May 2014 18:50:50 GMT

I had compiled them all together and I was going to go through them, so I had them in my computer bag, he said.

If that was an intentional pun, it was brilliant.

Comment #27

sully16 — Thu, 22 May 2014 12:22:50 GMT

It is, glad they found him.

Comment #26

canyon — Thu, 22 May 2014 02:55:30 GMT

You are correct but I guess I should have clarified a little. The only reason I mention that other states should do this is only because the unclaimed money does not go back into the pot for players to win so Iowa I feel is more diligent in making sure that they try to due right by their lottery customers no matter what the circumstances may be even if the lottery player may have been negligent. I appreciate that because sometimes unfortunate things do happen

Comment #25

ThatScaryChick — Thu, 22 May 2014 02:19:35 GMT

Well, I guess he is lucky people took the time to track him down or he would be out of a lot of money. Most states would just let the ticket expire and he would have been out of luck.

Comment #24

Arrowhead — Thu, 22 May 2014 01:55:03 GMT

he currently has tickets from several different states that he has yet to check, but he plans to do that soon.

Comment #23

shadowlady — Wed, 21 May 2014 17:45:20 GMT

Well, at least it was not from California, New York, or Florida.

Comment #22

cosmotravis — Wed, 21 May 2014 14:28:29 GMT

sounds like he has more money then time

unlike us

Comment #21

Gleno — Wed, 21 May 2014 13:19:16 GMT

Congrats to the State of Iowa, and Mr Watson. Sounds like they run the lottery with a big heart which is refreshing to read. The bigger states have too much on their plates to go tracking down big lottery winners and they get to keep the jackpot when it goes unclaimed.

Comment #20

Marilyn222 — Wed, 21 May 2014 12:55:40 GMT

Correction, PA won the MM Jackpot.

Comment #19

Marilyn222 — Wed, 21 May 2014 11:44:18 GMT

PA won the MG Jackpot.

Comment #18

everlasting win — Wed, 21 May 2014 06:37:28 GMT

so glad you found your ticket congrats enjoy the winnings

Comment #17

lottoguysocal — Wed, 21 May 2014 03:05:57 GMT

I think it was a very good job by the Iowa Lottery to track down the winner. Whether he would have checked it in time or not is subjective. Congrats on his win, and when I win I will know immediately and won't wait too long to cash out lol

Comment #16

Coin Toss — Wed, 21 May 2014 01:48:36 GMT

Good job by the Iowa lottery.

I can see this happening to a player. I know someone who plays heavy, everyday, and all he ever knows is Congratulations, you won $ # or Thank you for playing, sorry not a winner this time when he takes a few days worth of tickets and checks them on a lotto scanner.

He has no idea what he missed any numbers by - not that it matters but you'd think someone who plays like that would be curious.

That's called playing for the sake of playing.

In... [ More ]

Comment #15

mrcraft — Wed, 21 May 2014 00:18:52 GMT

I admit before I got serious with the lottery, I'd buy tickets when mega jackpots were advertised on TV, and I'd forget to check them for weeks or months. There were even a few times, I would find them in my wallet or drawer after they expired! Those I never checked the numbers and just tossed them. So, I kind of understand...

Now, I check my draw tickets the same night or at the latest the next morning.

Comment #14

duckman — Tue, 20 May 2014 23:14:19 GMT

Why buy tickets if you are not going to check them

Comment #13

mamamary517 — Tue, 20 May 2014 23:07:42 GMT

He didn't forget to check his ticket he just never bothered.

Comment #12

HaveABall — Tue, 20 May 2014 22:17:46 GMT

Kudos to both the Iowa Lottery Headquarters security team and the Iowa Kum Go gas station for working together to solve this out-of-state 2nd prize Powerball winner caper!

The article is interesting in that the owner appears to believe that he would have checked his bunch of tickets just in time, anyhow, to find the $1M winner, etc. within ... and claim in time. Maybe yes, maybe no!

Regardless, congratulations newest 2nd prize claiming Powerball winner

Comment #11

hearsetrax — Tue, 20 May 2014 19:51:01 GMT

he should've lost out

Comment #10

DoctorWhy — Tue, 20 May 2014 18:04:16 GMT

He is very lucky. It is the player's responsibility to keep up and claim any winning tickets.

Comment #9

RedStang — Tue, 20 May 2014 17:52:14 GMT

He must of bought gas with a debit card/CC.

Comment #8

mrcraft — Tue, 20 May 2014 17:44:45 GMT

Congrats!!

But... how did they find out who his local financial institution was? Can you buy lottery tickets with a debit/credit card in Iowa?

Here, it's cash only.

Comment #7

Todd — Tue, 20 May 2014 17:27:56 GMT

It's amazing they could track down a guy who doesn't even live in the same state the ticket was purchased in.

Comment #6

shadowlady — Tue, 20 May 2014 16:10:26 GMT

Congratulation to the winner.

My husband check the tickets 1 or 2 days after the drawing, but if there was something on the news that someone from our state had won the jackpot, he would check sooner, so that we could try to claim it sooner. And yes, we would get a lawyer and financial advisor to talk about how to claim the ticket, and what to do with the money.

Comment #5

dallascowboyfan — Tue, 20 May 2014 15:56:24 GMT

Congratulation Mr. Watson and WTG Iowa Lottery officials

Comment #4

dr65 — Tue, 20 May 2014 15:39:33 GMT

It's times like these where a story comes up about a person who has a drawer full of old lottery tickets and

finds one is a winner that I wish I had a drawer like that.

I don't though because I always check mine the night of the drawing and they are losers.

Maybe that's the key, buy them, throw them in a drawer and forget about them until the lottery sends the

bloodhounds out to find the winner who forgot they bought a ticket. Maybe it'll be me.

Comment #3

noise-gate — Tue, 20 May 2014 15:22:45 GMT

I agree to a point- it took them 6 months to get this guy who by all accounts had forgotten that he had the winning ticket. Unlike what the California lottery did here 2 years ago by tracking down a winner a little over a month after winning and putting his mug on TV.

Unbelievable stupidity.

Comment #2

canyon — Tue, 20 May 2014 15:04:06 GMT

WOW! That is great!!! Wish all states would do that instead of letting multi-million dollar prizes go unclaimed like the one went unclaimed in Georgia $77 million Powerball

Comment #1

mypiemaster — Tue, 20 May 2014 14:58:47 GMT

Awesome. Well done Iowa Lottery, good for you. It is completely moronic to buy lottery tickets and not check them. Just don't play the lottery if you are not going to check your tickets. The guy even admitted having more tickets that he has not checked yet. If you don't check your ticket, you have nobody but yourself to blame.

Iowa Lottery officials track down $1 million winner

Lottery Post — Tue, 20 May 2014 14:29:48 GMT

Includes audio report

After six months of sleuthing, Iowa Lottery officials made contact with a man who'd won a $1 million Powerball prize back in November but didn't know it because he hadn't checked the ticket.

You've heard us say before that we want to see our prizes claimed when someone legitimately has won them, Lottery CEO Terry Rich said Monday. We hope that our work in this situation demonstrates that.

Richard Watson of Belton, Mo., claimed his $1 million prize Monday at lot... [ More ]