$1M winning lottery ticket sold in Wisconsin goes unclaimed

Apr 4, 2016, 8:03 pm (20 comments)

Powerball

The Powerball ticket could be at the bottom of a garbage can. Or wedged into a glove compartment. Perhaps it went through the laundry, never to be seen again.

Regardless, the unknown holder of the ticket lost a lot of money. The ticket, purchased in Eau Claire in September, was worth a cool $1 million, but since it wasn't redeemed by the March deadline, the money goes toward property tax relief.

"The winner did not come forward," said Stephanie Marquis, communications director for the Wisconsin Department of Revenue. "I don't know why."

We'll probably never know why the ticket-buyer didn't collect the money. But the most obvious reason is that the ticket was lost, or the buyer never knew it was a winner. The odds of capturing a $1 million Powerball prize are 1 in 5,153,633.

"It's not very common to have a $1 million winner not come forward," said Marquis.

Marquis said the Department of Revenue posted notices that the deadline for redeeming the ticket, which was purchased Sept. 23 from a Kwik Trip in Eau Claire. The deadline for redeeming it was March 21. By law, winners of lotto games in Wisconsin have 180 days to claim their prizes.

Unclaimed winnings are nothing new in Wisconsin.

Since 1997, more than $57 million has gone unclaimed, according to figures supplied by Wisconsin Lottery officials and the Department of Revenue. The amount typically falls between $2 and $4 million annually.

In fiscal year 2015, more than $2.2 million went unclaimed, Marquis said previously. That total included Powerball, Mega Millions, Megabucks, Supercash, Badger 5, Pick 3 and Pick 4 — but not scratch-off tickets.

Most of the unclaimed winnings are due to lost tickets or a disinterest in redeeming smaller cash prizes.

But failing to redeem a $1 million winner is stunning.

"It's pretty rare," Marquis said.

Post-Crescent, Lottery Post Staff

Comments

zephbe's avatarzephbe

The winner didn't want the money--was just playing for fun-lol

Raven62's avatarRaven62

Check your Lottery Tickets People: Don't let this happen to You!

ekem6078's avatarekem6078

If the lottery officials knew the date it was purchased, and where it was purchased from. Why couldn't they had just looked back at the video recording for that particular day and see who purchased the ticket. If they done this, before the dead line was up,   then  they could have contacted that person or persons to let them know they won. But I guess that would be to much like right.  And they seen a way to keep the money themselves.  lol

ohiopick3's avatarohiopick3

Looks like the "big one" from January might go "unclaimed as well"

Pending
California
January 13, 2016 Pending $1,586,400,000.00 annuity (split)
$983,505,233.36 cash (split)

ummm!

sully16's avatarsully16

Yikes, that's a lot of money. Treat your tickets like cash.

music*'s avatarmusic*

Quote: Originally posted by ohiopick3 on Apr 4, 2016

Looks like the "big one" from January might go "unclaimed as well"

Pending
California
January 13, 2016 Pending $1,586,400,000.00 annuity (split)
$983,505,233.36 cash (split)

ummm!

I Agree! That ticket is lost as well. Pity.

Coin Toss's avatarCoin Toss

For all the reasons that states that do no allow winners to remain anonymous use, the players should throw this right back at them and say, "How do we know there really was a winner?"

As ekem6078 brought up, why no tracking the person down by watching the surveillance tape?

Hey Wisconsin -and other states - if the players can't remain anonymous the state can't remain 'anonymous'!

TheMeatman2005's avatarTheMeatman2005

Quote: Originally posted by Coin Toss on Apr 5, 2016

For all the reasons that states that do no allow winners to remain anonymous use, the players should throw this right back at them and say, "How do we know there really was a winner?"

As ekem6078 brought up, why no tracking the person down by watching the surveillance tape?

Hey Wisconsin -and other states - if the players can't remain anonymous the state can't remain 'anonymous'!

Most newer security systems record on a re-recordable hard drive which has a 7-day memory capacity. After 7 days passes, it records over what happened 7 days before. So, it wouldn't have any recording from 180 days in the past.

People who buy lottery tickets just have to take better care of what they do with their tickets!

Stooges

RedStang's avatarRedStang

"Property tax relief"       

Slick Nick's avatarSlick Nick

Outright careless!!! A fool and his money soon part they say... And this person is a fool. LOL

hearsetrax's avatarhearsetrax

Quote: Originally posted by sully16 on Apr 4, 2016

Yikes, that's a lot of money. Treat your tickets like cash.

I Agree!

IPlayWeekly's avatarIPlayWeekly

This is beyond sad

noise-gate

Some folk just don't like dealing with money. They may play the lottery but really don't care whether they win or lose. Kinda like people who are ' redlight runners'- they know they could get T- boned or worse, but they just don't care. 

Groppo's avatarGroppo

I don't know if anyone can understand this, but it kind of irks me.
Almost like seeing a kid you care about, who does not eat everything on his plate, and having to tell him:

Don't you know there are people starving in Japan?

 

(actually, you wouldn't use Japan as an example, but other places would substitute just fine.)

Subscribe to this news story