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It is hard for some to believe, but even as some Americans dream of hitting it big in the Lotto, Powerball, and Megamillions 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 last year, he estimates about $2 million a month find no takers.
"They look to see whether they won the big prize, and then they discard the ticket," he said.
Indeed, right now there are some whoppers looking for a home: $750,000 in Megamillions winnings, along with a $6.5 million lotto winner from last August. There are $845,833 in combined winning tickets in the Lucky Day Lotto game. And there is even a million dollar winner from the millionaire raffle last March.
In some cases, unclaimed winnings are tied up in court. Right now, there is an ongoing dispute among employees at a Chicago Heights bakery over a $118 million windfall. Some of those employees contend they were squeezed out of an office pool which they all routinely play.
But in many cases, people simply don’t know that they’ve won.
Take Ron Yurcus for example. The hospice chaplain routinely played various lottery games but failed to check the Powerball ticket he bought last August. For three months.
Then, in November, Yurcus was cleaning his desk and found the ticket. He decided he should check the numbers before throwing it away. And, left to right, as each one matched, his eyes got bigger.
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"When I saw that number one, with all those zeroes after it, I just about fell over," Yurcus said. "Thinking, this isn’t real. This isn’t me. This can’t be happening."
He said he waited until his wife came home, sat her down, opened a bottle of wine, and broke the news that they had just won a million dollars. And that they had done so, three months earlier.
"Of course, we didn’t sleep that night," she said. "And it was like, 'Oh my gosh, we’ve had this treasure in our house for two months!'"
Most unclaimed tickets are, in actuality, small prizes of a few dollars or more. But those add up to millions every year. After 365 days, lottery prizes expire and are reclaimed into an unclaimed prize fund, the money used for various state purposes and additional jackpots.
Jones, the lottery director, says the state’s hope is that more people will avail themselves of his agency’s new online games. Those, he says, are foolproof.
If you win, they contact you.
"It’s the first time there will be no unclaimed prizes," he said. "We will inform you when you’ve won, and we will send you the money."
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Let's see ... we left the bar and went to the corner store for a burrito , i bought some tickets ,,, now what did I do with them...
I read somewhere, that it's probably a blessing in disguise that more of us don't win big bucks. As it keeps the less nicer parts of our personality from coming out and developing.Since not getting everything we want, forces us to choose more wisely, (yeah, right!) that which we can afford. Then again, winning the big jackpot really doesn't change anyone. It just gives people more money to act on how their true nature. With a lot bigger headaches which they never anticipated that comes with all those dollar sighs.
Personally, I wouldn't want it, nor the lost privacy. I would be scared to death with that much stewardship and accountability. Afraid I would mess up and not use it the wisest ways possible in the end for others. For those who do win, and don't realize it, I wish them the best in discovering their good fortune. Such fortunate happenstance can be a most positive factor in their life.
Everyone can use a lift every now and then.With lady luck smiling upon them. As long as they don't expect her to stay as a new relative in the family who has adopted them personally.
I would love to be the mega millions winner. The possibilities are endless!!! I would love the challenge, start new small businesses and get more people working. Give some to charities. Help my immediate family out. Travel a bit. But most of all, I would love to visit with sick children and give them a gift to brighten their day if only for a day.
What a totally EXCELLENT! thread, Windancersong-1494878, #2 and Blake-2644321, #2.1!!!! Vote-Vote
May you stay "UNCOLLAPSED"!!!! :)
So curious. I too have fantasized about winning big bucks in the Lottery. And after family and close friends are taken care of, I would want to give a huge portion to charities involved in helping seriously ill children. Especially those children of single parent homes. I mean really...how much money do you really need to live a comfortable life? Give it away! It will then enhance your life in a way that keeping it never would.
I'd be thrilled to win 200k (the biggest prize before jackpot). Not enough to quit working, but enough to buy a decent house and pay off every penny of debt, even after taxes. Maybe send hubby to college if he wanted. Mostly keep our lives normal, just with a lot less stress and a decent savings account.
The lottery gods enforcing bad lottery karma ? To purchase a ticket, then lose or mistakenly discard a winner ? Change your selfish thoughts and ways for the better, then see what happens !
Personally.........I want it! I already have it all planned out as to how the funds would be managed. The best part for me would be never worrying about bills again and travelling to some of the destinations I have always wanted to see. One does not have to give up privacy due to winning the lottery. I look at winning the lottery as a good thing and not some nightmare with headaches. The headaches come from being too extravagant and being penny wise but pound foolish as the saying goes. I will never understand how someone could win millions only to lose it all.
Nickle and dimed, although granted in larger armounts when millions are concerned.
But it is all the little things, that add up to a massive amount in the end.
No one takes into account maintance costs for example. Sure, you can afford a McMansion ... but can you afford the property taxes for the rest of your life? And the landscaper to take care of the huge lawn? The housekeeper(s)? etc etc.
Then there is family. Every single member of your family, both that you know and those you've never met will have a terribly tragic story and ask for just s small amount to help though out in some rough times...
You get the picture. A little here, a little there, but 0 coming in. Doesn't last all that long.
I hear you Capn-1 and I have long since taken all you have stated in your post into consideration. Now all I have to do is win the jackpot, lol! Also, if one should happen to win millions in a lotter, there is no way there should be "zero coming in" because that money should draw a nice chunk of change in interest not to mention that I would place some of the money into long term, steady investment instruments.
I think almost all jackpot winners end up going broke, because they don't invest much, if any of it.
My personal strategy is to invest it all in low risk bons/money markets, and live only off interest. At least until I hit retirement age, then start drawing it down like you would if you retired normally. A cautious approach, but even getting a lousy 1% interest would be more than I make now working.
I would at least like to win my money back once in a while. it seems like so much of a rip off that I am not surprised when 20 people split the winning ticket and claim that it was "an office pool" just so they can each get a little money.
I was walking into a circle K last summer when a illegal tossed a lottery scratch ticket on the ground when he jumped in the back of a illegal employers pick up. I picked it up and won $1000.00.
I'll lay claim to the money. What do you mean I have to have the winning ticket. I knew there was a catch somewhere.
Did you not know, the only winner is the state as revenues are used to offset education system costs. And lotto tickets printed with the wrong numbers has been discovered, always scan those tickets. I have personnaly picked up just a few bucks on that one. What the public needs is an webb sight to record each lottery ticket as a check on the state systems. Perhaps the pot is manipulated by duplication of combinations to cause the pot to increase in value, as I have heard of this when that combination won against millions of claims. Trust but verify.
Don't you mean the winner are the kids going to school that get that extra funding, then?
i hereby legally claim all unclaimed lottery winnings. let it be known.
What's your address. We will send all unclaimed LOTTERY TICKETS to you.
I hereby legally claim you are an idiot.
there goes your cut, bruh.
I had what I thought were non-winning tix, I decided to check them in lottery scanner before I tossed them. And just like in a movie, the last one I checked out of 20 tickets was a winner! . . . but only for a $100 bucks. Still I was overjoyed. Next time, it's going to have more zeros . . . Universe . . . it's my turn . . .
I remember there used to be a television show about this very same thing. I think it was an IRS agent and a member of the lottery commission were going around locating tickets. The one episode I remember the guy who bought the tickets hid them in the sails of a model ship and his son found them after he passed away.
Consider this: Declare a firm time limit during which a ticket holder has to claim their prize. If they don't claim their winnings within that time, pick a school or a school district, in the state(s) where the game is offered, and award the prize to them. Done.
OK THIS IS FOR THE IDIOT THAT CAME UP WITH A LOTTERY ONLINE GAME. Guess you havent seen all the bogus emails saying you won. perhaps now there will be more scamming from these emails when you go online. Especially if your fform of contact is email....now what is real and what isnt
I will tell you this here in Dallas (ok plano) Tx. I pick up every discarded scratch off ticket I find, so far I have found a 10 2 five dollar winners and a thirty dollar winner!! I know people who have found 100 dollar winners
I can't be bothered with checking my numbers. If I won, I would only be bothered by people I don't even like.
Unclaimed...Ughh...does anyone still have their ticket, duh??
I buy one ticket and check it the very next day. I have no hope to get anywhere these days. No job, 59 years old. I'm so desperate, the lottery is my only hope. I don't lose my ticket.
They say you have a better chance of being struck by lightning TWICE, than hitting the Big One. So, couple years ago during violent thunderstorm...lightning all around. I tempted fate and put "saying" to the test. Whip out my seven iron (the old fart in Caddyshack on final hole)...and wife is yelling at her damn fool! Well, I'm still here hence I no longer waste money on a pipe dream. Not in the cards.
That figures, I gave it to the teller, she told me I wasn’t a winner so I let her keep it!
I would hord it and my family would live the good life.If someone else needs the money get a job.never have a clerk check it they are not honest.
Yes America check your tickets. You have no chance to escape Obama's new Nazi state!
David, Obama is President of our nation, Democracy. Nazism is not here. Stop dreaming David. Go to a Nazi country and live, you are welcome to leave. I have bought many lottery tickets and lost them. My bag.@
It's a representative republic, not a democracy. There are a few towns in New England that still have true democratic government - the question is put to the voters at town meetings. All other local, state, and federal government is operated by representatives and bureaucrats who we hire.
I don't know about you guys but I'm sitting on a chair.
This would be just my luck. I never win anything, and the one time I would probably have a winning lottery ticket, I would probably either lose it, accidentally throw it away, or otherwise completely miss out for some dumb reason!
This is a new year, and please don't start with all these lies!!
The lottery officials can tell exactly where and when every winning ticket of any prize amount was sold. They could easily publish periodically lists of unclaimed prizes with enough details so that people like me can check their old tickets. I believe they would rather the money go unclaimed.
Of course that is true. Payers don't mind if collectors fail to collect.
But this is not even news - many gambling tickets get lost, or people are too stupid, drunk, or stoned to recognize a winner when they check it.
Many insurance policies are never collected - paychecks and bonds go uncashed - billions in gift cards go unredeemed each year - bank accounts are abandoned - the money goes uncollected from the slot machine tray or change return - people hide and bury valuables and cash, then never recover them or tell anyone. It's what you call LIFE.
Would move to Tahiti and retire in warmth.
I like the group douchebag who didnt put in their money then the group wins and thinks they should get a cut. If you didnt pay you didnt play fool