Colorado man forfeits lottery winnings after missing claim deadline by three days

Nov 2, 2020, 10:36 am (9 comments)

Colorado Lottery

Player who lost out urges other winners not to wait to claim winnings

By Kate Northrop

With days melding together in the midst the ongoing pandemic, it's easy to lose track of time. Sadly, that's exactly what happened to a Colorado player who lost all of his lottery winnings when he missed the deadline to turn the winning ticket in by just three days.

Peter Bayley bought a ticket for the Powerball draw game this past spring and won $1,500 using his own lucky numbers. He was ecstatic — he immediately knew he wanted to put the sum toward a travel budget with his wife.

However, Colorado Lottery offices closed mid-March to curb the spread of COVID-19. Under normal circumstances, the state would require that players turn in their winning tickets within six months. The Lottery then put a 30-day claims extension in place for those who bought a ticket between April 6 and April 30.

Those who did not want to wait to claim their prize had to do so through alternative methods, such as mailing in their winning ticket. According to Bayley, he was one of the many players who preferred to wait as opposed to sending it through certified mail, likely due to fears that it would get lost in the mail.

"I guess I could have used certified mail, but it just didn't feel comfortable at the time," Bayley said.

Unfortunately for him, Bayley waited too long — he missed the deadline to turn in the ticket by just three days.

"It's totally on me," Bayley admitted. "It was my mistake."

The Colorado Lottery was unwilling to change the rules for Bayley, who "thought the extension of three days would be something they could live with." Colorado Lottery Communications Manager Meghan Dougherty explained that the Lottery maintains strict guidelines and procedures that are mandated by the state and that no exceptions can be made.

"It's really important that we keep to the rules," Dougherty said. "Otherwise, everybody would want to potentially change the rules."

Dougherty also strongly advised all prospective winners to view official guidelines and rules to familiarize themselves with the claims process on the Lottery's official website.

While Bayley lost out on $1,500 worth of winnings, state programs will see it as a win. Unclaimed lottery winnings are sent to various state organizations, agencies, and programs with a heavy emphasis on conservation, such as Great Outdoors Colorado, The Conservation Trust Fund, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, and the Colorado Department of Education.

While Bayley acknowledges that the winnings he lost out on will benefit the community, he urges players to avoid putting themselves in his shoes by claiming prizes right away.

"Go ahead: call, email, make an appointment and get that money in your hands as soon as possible so you don't end up like this," he implored.

Colorado winners can claim winnings worth less than $600 at any one of 3,200 official Lottery retailer locations, while prizes of $600 or more can be claimed at the Lottery office by appointment only.

Lottery Post Staff

Comments

hearsetrax's avatarhearsetrax

Type That stinks 

noise-gate

Peter is now a believer in the saying -  " He who hesitates is lost."

Sorry for your loss Pete.

PHIL85

Come on dude - you had seven months [ 6mo.'s + 1 Mo. extension ] to claim the prize. Pretty obvious he didn't care about or really need the money, otherwise it would have been a priority.

MillionsWanted's avatarMillionsWanted

Just be glad it wasn't 1,500,000.

If I win large prizes in Norwegian lotteries, I will automatically get the prize money transferred to my bank account in 1 or 2 days. No taxes of course.

KY Floyd's avatarKY Floyd

"Pretty obvious he didn't care about or really need the money"

Just because you don't need it doesn't mean you don't care. Not everyone is in such dire straits that they can't wait a while to collect $1500 if there's a good reason to wait, and in this case he had a perfectly good reason to wait. It's too bad the story doesn't tell us how/why he waited too long.

Bleudog101

First thing that came to mind was those free trial offers like for movie channels, etc.   Sometimes you forget about it, time goes so quickly and then you have another bill to pay.   Maybe he just forgot about it until the last minute.

Reminded me again of the NJ guy who had a winning 'The Big Game' ticket and casually mailed it to Trenton and got there in the nick of time.   Wife wasn't too happy about it if memory serves me correctly, but all worked out in the end.   Perhaps this guy shoulda/coulda/woulda done the same thing.   Oh well.

PHIL85

Quote: Originally posted by KY Floyd on Nov 3, 2020

"Pretty obvious he didn't care about or really need the money"

Just because you don't need it doesn't mean you don't care. Not everyone is in such dire straits that they can't wait a while to collect $1500 if there's a good reason to wait, and in this case he had a perfectly good reason to wait. It's too bad the story doesn't tell us how/why he waited too long.

Guy waited seven months AND THREE DAYS.  It is obvious he didn't care or he would have redeemed the ticket within the time period. Sounds to me like this was a publicity gimmick and he wanted/needed some attention.

sweetie7398's avatarsweetie7398

WowConfused

Raven62's avatarRaven62
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