A $14 million Illinois Lottery jackpot went unclaimed Monday, making it the largest pot in the state's history where no one came forward to say, "I won the lotto!"
The money will be given to the State Common School Fund, which supports public education programs.
A midnight deadline to claim the jackpot expired, despite an aggressive local and national television campaign to find the winner, Illinois Lottery Supt. Carolyn Adams said.
Lottery winners have one year to claim their prize. Previously, the largest unclaimed jackpot was $6 million in September 2000.
"It's really unfortunate because when our players play the game, we really want them to take advantage of the winnings," Adams said.
More than 40 people called to try to cash in and three submitted claim forms, but no one was able to provide the actual ticket or serial number to prove they were the real winner, Adams said.
The Gas City station in Frankfort that sold the winning ticket, with the numbers 14-23-24-36-37-50, collected $140,000, 1 percent of the ticket's value.
somewhere in this world is a lonely 2 or 3 line lottery ticket sitting in a glove compartment, or in a pile of papers, or in a purse hanging in a closet, or strapped to a sun visor by a rubberband .....just waiting to be checked before they discard it....and the look on that persons face when he does check it will be...... like The coyote when over shoots the curve on the mountain road and has stopped in mid air and faces the camera......and has just enough time to wave goodbye...before he plummets to the bottom....
Not so fast look at the post from January 26th....to be continued
More than 40 swindlers, um I mean people
CASE CLOSED... unless the ticket walks into the Lotery office by itself, and you can change Lottery rules.
I hope it wasn't a case of someone glancing at their numbers and thinking they were wrong or checking them against an incorrect newspaper/webpage print out of the numbers and then throwing the ticket out. Powerball's website carries the caveat: "Every attempt is made to ensure that this list of numbers is accurate..."
But mistakes are bound to happen now and then.
I always check mine visually and for added security have them checked again at the terminal when I go to buy new numbers. It would be a shame to miss out on a fortune, or any amount for that matter, because of someone else's mistake.
This ticket is in the hands of lawyers...........to be continued.
Ticket is in the hands of lawyers? JUST WONDERING WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT???????
ent
... um I mean bbar3bie. You had said that the ticket is in a safe deposit box, then lost, then destroyed... now lawyers have it. Claim-deadline is over.
CASE CLOSED
Alright! I haven't seen a good controversy since Alicia Battle claimed to have lost the ticket in a parking lot in Cleveland,,,,
I'm ready....this is going to be good....somebody hit the play button....
I agree that the case is closed.
So what if it's "in the hands of lawyers?" It is a worthless scrap of paper now. It should be "in the recycle bin of lawyers".
Did the person who claims to be the winner produce the serial number at least?
I have a question for anyone out there.....does anyone have a losing lotto ticket from January 2004? There is valuable information on anyone of those tickets which may be worth something to you....email it to me at gbjm04 on yahoo and I will email you back with the valuable information!! Thanks!
BTW the case is far from closed you will see
It seems to me that if someone is insistent about something like this, and given the fact that one can go to prison for many years if found lying about a winning ticket, one would back down after a first try with a invalid ticket. If what gbjm says is true, I stand behind her, or whoever. JAMES
I believe this may be truth.
NOT SO FAST GUYS a old man lost his ticket after falling, sued the state and won 6 million!!! And the state actually WANTS you to file against them so a judge can overrule there tight guidelines!