Why so many Unclaimed Jackpots for Mega Millions and Power Ball?

Reply #21

HoLeeKau — Thu, 17 Sep 2020 15:40:26 GMT

Curious about where you play, NN? Somewhere in Idaho

Reply #20

Big Joey — Fri, 28 Aug 2020 10:34:33 GMT

People drop tickets all the time in parking lots walking out the store with several tickets in hand. They don't think twice when they get home.

Reply #19

GiveFive — Mon, 17 Aug 2020 12:35:53 GMT

Well there still are Covid restrictions in New York, and they're a little better than they used to be. The NY Lottery website now has a way to schedule an appointment at their claim centers to redeem a prize greater than $600.

That said, you can not get an appointment until 2:15 PM on Tuesday September 22nd at the regional claim center that's closest to where I live. Given that's more than one month from now, my guess is that most players were not interested in mailing their winner in. Not a... [ More ]

Reply #18

noise-gate — Sun, 16 Aug 2020 19:03:09 GMT

Yeah it is interesting Solly. Since you from NY, looks like it's time for you to go back through your pants pockets, shirts, jackets maybe, just ,maybe climbing into your dyer looking for the winning ticket. We would hate to see your name in lights as losing out on millions of dollars. It would break our hearts.. literally.

Reply #17

Stack47 — Sat, 15 Aug 2020 21:33:50 GMT

In retrospect bet Larry Dawson wishes he waited to claim until Crawford Shaw tried to cash in Eddie Tipton's ticket. His paid day could have been much better.

Reply #16

Soledad — Sat, 15 Aug 2020 20:51:33 GMT

Interesting. Thanks for the info. About making an exception. Anyways, just joking around.

Reply #15

Soledad — Sat, 15 Aug 2020 20:48:02 GMT

Yes Coronavirus. Claim centers have been closed, now they're opening by appointment only. This coronavirus is not to be taken lightly. It's just the way sensible people are. I know of people who are sitting on thousands of dollars of tickets, and they are not going to claim them until everything is open again. Appointment nothing. It's not like you can run around once you cash the tickets anyways, strip clubs are closed..lol. Poor strippers. Think of the strippers, please.

Reply #14

Northern Nevada — Sat, 15 Aug 2020 20:09:36 GMT

The unclaimed Mega Millions (3) are 2 in New Jersey and one in California.

The unclaimed Power Ball (4) are in New York, New Jersey, West Virginia, Florida. (PS the New York prize is $148 Million and it expires in two days on the 17th) That totals up to 989.5 Million that the two lotteries are sitting on in unclaimed jackpot prizes ALONE!

ALSO them crying poor and lowering the starting amount from 40 million to 20 million is complete BS!!!

As for not claiming it, I called my local lott... [ More ]

Reply #13

GiveFive — Sat, 15 Aug 2020 12:14:12 GMT

There are Covid restrictions in New York too. They're called Mail it in. The good thing about that is there isn't any standing in lines with long wait times. G5

Reply #12

GiveFive — Sat, 15 Aug 2020 12:11:20 GMT

There is no hurry. That said, I do like the convenience of going to a NY Lottery regional office close to where I live to claim a prize of more than $600, but I've no problem mailing a winner over 600 bucks to their HQ office for processing. I'd never mail them a winner of a $100,000 or more.

There'd never be a hurry if I was ever so lucky to win a multi-million dollar prize. Laying low and keeping quiet for a long time is what I'd do. G5

Reply #11

GiveFive — Sat, 15 Aug 2020 11:59:42 GMT

Good to know that Florida has recently updated their list of Fantasy5 winners. To me, it looks as if The Florida Lottery will be closed to the public indefinitely. I hope they dont revert back to not updating the list of winners for an extended period of time.

The NY Lottery could learn a few lessons from Florida relative to how they operate and also their website. There aren't any drop boxes at NY's regional offices. Just a locked glass door and nobody in the office! The NY Lottery's websit... [ More ]

Reply #10

noise-gate — Sat, 15 Aug 2020 05:53:09 GMT

What's the hurry to claim? Unless you living paycheck to paycheck, then yeah. In Sunny California, a jackpot winner has to wait weeks before seeing a check, so claiming fast out here doesn't do a winner any good when you think about it.

Reply #9

music* — Fri, 14 Aug 2020 21:14:31 GMT

Please visit the California Lottery website. calottery.com There you read that all the district offices are open but with Covid restrictions. The waiting lines might be long.

Reply #8

MsBee18 — Fri, 14 Aug 2020 13:29:58 GMT

The Florida lottery website is pretty amazing. You might want to take a look at the pdf again. Several Fantasy5 winners from April-August have claimed their prize. The last expired Fantasy5 ticket was sold in December 2019. All tickets bought during this pandemic have an automatic extension past the 180 day mark.

The FL lottery is open but closed to the public. They implemented a new drop box at all district offices to hand deliver any claimers. But claiming by mail is also an option. Both m... [ More ]

Reply #7

GiveFive — Fri, 14 Aug 2020 12:44:11 GMT

No doubt about that.

One thing I've been curious about is tickets usually expire after a set amount of time. Players cant cash them in person, so the only choice is by mail. Will the fact that lottery offices have been and are still closed have any effect on the amount of time allowed for winners to cash them? Maybe not. After all, a winner can still claim a prize by mail.

I live in New York and The NY Lottery does not show anything on their website about how many tickets remain unclaime... [ More ]

Reply #6

MsBee18 — Fri, 14 Aug 2020 11:41:21 GMT

Once in a lifetime win. Trust me they'll be claimed no need to worry.

Reply #5

GiveFive — Fri, 14 Aug 2020 06:25:53 GMT

Many state's lottery offices are still closed due to the pandemic. A large winner can claim by mail, but who in their right mind would put a multi-million dollar winning ticket in the mail addressed to their states lottery?

I've noticed in Florida since last April there are many unclaimed top prize winners for Florida Fantasy5. Those winning tickets range from $50,000 to $200,000. That tells me players in Florida wont even put a ticket in the mail worth a lot less than millions of dollars. C... [ More ]

Reply #4

NY10 — Fri, 14 Aug 2020 06:08:59 GMT

It s because it s rigged and some one known to lotteries meaning an insider won and will just claim when the lottery feels like showing the public the fake winner or might even make them anonymous

Reply #3

BobP — Fri, 14 Aug 2020 06:02:18 GMT

One strategy is to hold back claiming a jackpot until newer jackpots are claimed making their win old news. Or it could be drunk ticket buying then losing them.

BobP

They say (they being the little jackasses that live in people's heads) always buy lottery tickets with a six pack while wearing an irregular shirt driving a body rotted American car, a sure winner.

Reply #2

Stack47 — Thu, 13 Aug 2020 18:53:38 GMT

And other people CAN'T see why people get their ticket validated the next time lottery headquarters opened. It's really simple, if you win a jackpot, you decide when to claim and when other players win, they decide when to claim.

The only rules on claiming is when the tickets expire.

Reply #1

Northern Nevada — Thu, 13 Aug 2020 18:39:29 GMT

Whups I meant to say I CAN'T see people just sitting on a winning jackpot.

N N

Why so many Unclaimed Jackpots for Mega Millions and Power Ball?

Northern Nevada — Thu, 13 Aug 2020 17:18:25 GMT

Soooooooo it looks like most of the jackpots in the last 6 ish months are still unclaimed... For powerball there are 5 (granted one was just one last night) and 3 for mega millions. These are grand prize jackpots and in these troubled times I can see people just sitting on a winning ticket? Any theroies on this? COVID?

N N