Louisiana lottery winnings of $11M went unclaimed last year

Sep 11, 2012, 9:03 am (10 comments)

Louisiana Lottery

Nearly $11 million in lottery winnings in Louisiana went unclaimed in the fiscal year that ended June 30, according to Louisiana lottery officials. The year before, unclaimed prize money totaled $8.5 million.

Bo Bernhard, executive director of the International Gaming Institute at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, assumes some of the unclaimed prizes involve people who throw out their Mega Millions or Power Ball tickets after doing a quick check and realizing they didn't match the first few numbers. People either don't realize or don't care, given that they were hoping to win big money, that matching even a single number generates prize money of $2 to $4.

Bernhard also has a theory that Americans in the cyber age are getting less efficient at holding on to physical things, like small lottery tickets. "In a world where we no longer collect as much 'stuff' in the form of paper records — as our address book moves into our phone, as does virtually every other record we keep — I suspect some people simply misplace them and forget about it," Bernhard said.

Not all the unclaimed prizes are small. In 2011, a $77 million Powerball Jackpot in Georgia went unclaimed. As a result, states that sell Powerball lottery tickets got money back. For Louisiana it was $1.38 million.

Losing a ticket is a real downer for the big prizes, given the excruciatingly long odds against matching all six Powerball or Mega Millions numbers. For both games, the odds are slightly more than 1 in 175 million.

According to Mike Orkin, author of "What are the Odds? Chances in Everyday Life," a person who drives 10 miles to buy a Powerball ticket is 16 times more likely to die in a car crash than to win the big jackpot.

Some Louisiana purchasers of winning tickets with pretty big prizes are close to the deadline for cashing in. According to the Louisiana Lottery Corp., a person who bought a $30,000 winning ticket at Swifty's in Mandeville has until Sept. 26 to claim the prize. And the holder of a $3 million winning Mega Millions ticket, purchased at Murphy Express in Denham Springs, must claim the prize by Oct. 7.

People have six months to claim prizes for draw-style games like Mega Millions and Powerball, and 90 days to collect winnings from rub-off tickets.

Prize money not claimed by Louisiana winners goes to the state lottery, which uses it to increase payouts on scratch-off tickets, second chance drawings and other lottery promotions, according to Kimberly Chopin, spokeswoman for the Louisiana Lottery Corporation.

Louisiana paid out $226.2 million in winnings in the past fiscal year, though that number hasn't been audited.

Times-Picayune

Comments

jamella724

This is not good.  Why haven't lottery enthusiasts claimed their winnings?  Did they lose their lottery tickets? Were they scared of what will future would bring? Did they know that their tickets won?  Just some questions on my mind right now...

mcginnin56

Quote: Originally posted by jamella724 on Sep 11, 2012

This is not good.  Why haven't lottery enthusiasts claimed their winnings?  Did they lose their lottery tickets? Were they scared of what will future would bring? Did they know that their tickets won?  Just some questions on my mind right now...

Most likely the usual.... threw out accidentally, dog ate ticket, forgot they played, born again Christian who burned ticket as a sacrifice, or the

insane people who didn't understand what a lottery ticket was, when they bought it.  Crazy

Cletu$2's avatarCletu$2

People who do not want their winning Lottery tickets are urged to give them to me!

LottoGuyBC's avatarLottoGuyBC

maybe fogot where they hid the ticket

misplaced ticket(s)

KY Floyd's avatarKY Floyd

"a $3 million winning Mega Millions ticket"

How do you get one of those? It must be a ticket with the correct 5 numbers and the megaplier on 3 lines. I'd guess that somebody playing a ticket like that isn't the type to be careless about checking their results.

Of course they could be the type to die before telling anyone else that they won. That would be a pretty steep estate tax.

mcginnin56

Another real possibility could be space aliens who made the lucky purchases, but left unexpectedly before they could redeem their winning tickets.

maringoman's avatarmaringoman

I pray that I never win and forget to check my tickets. I would kill myself if I found an expired jackpot ticket tucked in my glove compartment.

haymaker's avatarhaymaker

Quote: Originally posted by maringoman on Sep 11, 2012

I pray that I never win and forget to check my tickets. I would kill myself if I found an expired jackpot ticket tucked in my glove compartment.

Act like a chigago voter, check (vote) your tix. early and often,

 no one wants you to do anything rash.

 

"put em in your pocket"Smile

HaveABall's avatarHaveABall

Quote: Originally posted by mcginnin56 on Sep 11, 2012

Another real possibility could be space aliens who made the lucky purchases, but left unexpectedly before they could redeem their winning tickets.

Geez, mcginnin56, I never thought of this.  I bet you're on to something BIG!  Because if an alian is leaving and isn't expecting to return, why waste time filling out a claim form and waiting the 2-4 weeks for the electronic funds transfer to occur into the financial account!

Your suggestion, provided me lots of LOL, thanks! Conehead

mcginnin56

Quote: Originally posted by HaveABall on Sep 14, 2012

Geez, mcginnin56, I never thought of this.  I bet you're on to something BIG!  Because if an alian is leaving and isn't expecting to return, why waste time filling out a claim form and waiting the 2-4 weeks for the electronic funds transfer to occur into the financial account!

Your suggestion, provided me lots of LOL, thanks! Conehead

Your welcome HaveABall!   

End of comments
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