Is it possible that you have an unclaimed lottery prize without your knowledge? Unclaimed lottery jackpot prizes along with unclaimed utility checks and deposits are becoming an area of concern for U.S. authorities already struggling to disburse unclaimed cash and property outnumbering state treasurers.
It’s unbelievable that the $12 million lottery jackpot goes unclaimed; but it has happened in Barstow, CA. The jackpot winner who purchased the ticket has yet to come forward to claim the money from him. This Super Lotto Plus ticket was purchased from the Barstow Station Ice Cream Shoppe and the Shoppe owner stands to win $60,000 if the ticket is claimed. A $50 million Lotto jackpot was left unclaimed in Florida. According to Florida Lotto, nearly $122 million in jackpot prizes have gone unclaimed and expired since its inception in 1988.
This is also happening with other lottery games. The most popular of these lottery games is Mega Millions. Since its inception in May 2002, this $1 lottery game has multiplied, as have the number of unclaimed jackpot prizes. In New York, a $31 million prize went unclaimed in 2007. Many other Mega Millions prizes of $250,000 each went unclaimed.
According to USA Today, about $570 million in lottery prizes went unclaimed nationwide in 2006. This represents almost 2 percent of the total $33 billion awarded.
Claim your cash immediately
Americans should check lottery results promptly and claim prizes on time. Likely defaulters are people who buy lottery tickets for fun and don’t believe they can win one. They often misplace the tickets or never bother to check the results. Checking lottery ticket results is a painstaking task and counting each digit and rechecking similar digits can be a turn off. People are also likely to miss checking for the correct combination of numbers to avoid an unclaimed lottery jackpot!
Citizens are requested to handle the tickets they purchase with care and inform at least one of their family members about the ticket. Make a note or set a reminder for you to check the result. Check that you have counted the numbers correctly.
Jackpots are not forever
Lottery jackpot prizes cannot be claimed whenever you want and they expire after a stipulated period. Most lottery prizes can be claimed within three to six months depending on the amount. After that period, the prize amount is considered unclaimed.
The unclaimed overdue amount is added to the state treasury. Many states are sitting on piles of unclaimed lottery jackpot prizes and are using or planning to use the unclaimed prizes for various purposes, such as education and economic development.
Unclaimed cash resulting from not only lottery jackpots, but also from many other sources, such as tax refunds, dividends, insurance claims, closed accounts, etc., is piling up with the US Treasurer. USA
