Washington Lottery looking for big winners

May 29, 2013, 2:16 pm (9 comments)

Washington Lottery

SEATTLE, Wa. — Two Washington residents have become millionaires and may not even know it, and if they haven't already lost their lottery tickets, they could be slow stepping forward to claim the winnings.

The winners have 180 days from the drawing to claim their money. There's $1 million waiting for a person who played Powerball in Bothell earlier this month. The winner of a $3.3 million lotto ticket bought in Lynnwood in March is out of luck after September.

Financial adviser Michael Boone said it might not be a case of missing tickets.

"There's a lot of good reasons why somebody might wait a little bit," he said.

Boone said the decision to delay coming forward could be more calculating than careless, especially if the mystery winner's marriage is on the skids.

"We had a call from a person who had won a lottery and had a ticket, but they were in the ninth inning of a divorce," he said.

If not the state of marriage, maybe a state income tax has them on hold. Boone said some clients hold off on claiming winnings so they can establish residency in a state without income tax.

Washington Lottery officials say every year nearly $4 million in winnings go unclaimed. At Sea-Tac Airport, travelers buy $20,000 in scratch tickets a week, but few are willing to return through security to claim a couple of dollars.

Tickets have been turned in crumpled, washed and taped together, but lottery officials say if they can still scan them, they will pay out the money.

A third of all unclaimed winnings in Washington go into the state's economic strategic reserve account. On Tuesday, Gov. Jay Inslee released $150,000 from that reserve to help communities losing business because of the Skagit River Bridge collapse.

KOMO

Comments

RJOh's avatarRJOh

"If not the state of marriage, maybe a state income tax has them on hold. Boone said some clients hold off on claiming winnings so they can establish residency in a state without income tax."

I always thought it was the situation you were in at the time of the lottery drawing and not the one you were in when claiming your lottery winnings that established what was shared with a previous spouse or to whom you owed taxes.

tony869

Yeah i read that story and i think that 3.3 lottery winning ticket was old in Fred Meyers in Lynnwood.

noise-gate

They have 180 days to come forward,  What's the urgency? Probably some lawyers attempting to get their greasy hands on the money.

Libra0926

Quote: Originally posted by RJOh on May 29, 2013

"If not the state of marriage, maybe a state income tax has them on hold. Boone said some clients hold off on claiming winnings so they can establish residency in a state without income tax."

I always thought it was the situation you were in at the time of the lottery drawing and not the one you were in when claiming your lottery winnings that established what was shared with a previous spouse or to whom you owed taxes.

HAPPY WEDNESDAY  MAY 29TH

RJ...I  toooooo thought that  way.  I live in Montgomery County Maryland, and  thought that if  I was a resident here at the time of winning (should that miracle take place) that I would automatically owe income taxes to Maryland even if I move to Florida, and take residency there,  and then stake my claim to the winnings.  That means that residents of Maryland , Virginia and the District could avoid paying "state taxes or municipal taxes) if they take residency in a non-income tax State like Florida or Nevada,  and then take the payout.  All we would have to pay is Federal Tax.hhhhhmmmmmm   very interesting

 Lurking

rdgrnr's avatarrdgrnr

Looks like it doesn't pay to wait till nobody's looking to collect anymore cuz the Lottery will put the spotlight on you if ya do.

They oughta stipulate that in the rules so you can avoid it if you choose to.

They could say that you have 180 days to collect but if you don't collect in 150 days we're gonna publicize it.

JonnyBgood07's avatarJonnyBgood07

"Washington Lottery officials say every year nearly $4 million in winnings go unclaimed"..

"A third of all unclaimed winnings in Washington go into the state's economic strategic reserve account"

 

 

makes you wonder where the other 2 thirds goes....

miracleplay5's avatarmiracleplay5

Do they ever think that the person could be dead for whatever reason? just a thought..I can't think of any other reason why people won't claim their money unless they lost the ticket.We often hide things from others but are actually hiding/losing it for good! Everytime I see these kind of stories I recheck my old tickets in hopes of me overlooking a winGreen laugh

rdgrnr's avatarrdgrnr

There's another factor to consider in Washington now when somebody doesn't claim a winning ticket.

The whole state is nothing but wacked-out, zombie-like potheads now. They all sound like Tommy Chong.

"Like wow man."

jamella724

Are they looking for me?! How unfortunate that some prizes go unclaimed when there are so many who wished to have that prizes. Hopefully they could create a system that will enable players who lost their tickets to still claim their prizes.

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