This is why you must check your Powerball ticket, even if you do not win the $ 1.8 billion jackpot
The chances are very good that if someone wins the Promised Powerball Price of $ 1.8 billion on Saturday, he will collect his ticket. But it is not certain.
All the Jackpot winning tickets sold over the years have not been cashed. And if you total all the smallest “winners” who could claim a few dollars from millions of dollars, their total lost gains are likely to extend to the 10 -digit range each year.
The prices worth approximately 1% of the annual lottery income is not claimed, said Victor Matheson, professor of economics at the College of the Holy Cross and expert in the game and lotteries, citing an annual report by the New York Lottery Commission.
“The quantity of un demanded price is similar at the national level,” said Matheson. And as so many lotto tickets are sold each year, this 1% estimate goes to more than a billion dollars.
One of the prizes not claimed last year was a winning lottery ticket sold on July 3, 2024, in a Walmart Supercenter in Huber Heights, Ohio. This unmarried post would have paid the holder of $ 138 million spread over 20 years, or $ 65.8 million as a lump sum.
Eight mega millions or jackpots powerball have not been claimed in the past 25 years, according to data from the two lottery sites. These jackpots have a combined value of $ 646 million, or $ 821 million when adjusted for inflation.
But these eight failed prices represent approximately 1.5% of the 520 jackpots won during this period. Most of the united potential gains come from smaller prices, and much more than they are never cashed.
Many lottery players probably never check their tickets after hearing that there was no jackpot winner, or that the winning ticket was sold far from the place where they bought their ticket, according to Matheson. Probably do not know that they leave potential gains on the table or hide their winning ticket in their pockets or garbage drawers.
Some prices are as low as $ 4 for those who only correspond to the PowerBall number in this match. But it can also be millions for those who get the five regular numbers, but not powerball or Mega ball number. Mega Millions pays $ 2 million for this price, while PowerBall pays $ 1 million or $ 2 million, according to On the question of whether the player has paid an extra for a “power game option”.
Beyond the prices of a million dollars, there are also modest prices between $ 4 and $ 500 in Powerball and between $ 10 and $ 800 in Mega Millions. And there are also prices for up to six figures offered in two games, ranging from $ 1,000 to $ 500,000.
Different states have different deadlines to give a winning ticket. The Powerball site has a price list of $ 50,000 or more that has not been claimed, as well as the remaining time for the winner to claim them. One of these prices listed, a winning ticket of $ 50,000 sold in March in Covington, Louisiana, has just expired on Friday without being claimed.
Most of the money betting in the lotteries is not in these Jackpot drawing games, Matheson said. About 70% of $ 110 billion in sold tickets are intended for instant scratch games. And although he does not have firm data to save him, he suspects that relatively few of these winning tickets end up not being conceded.
“There is just less time between the moment when the tickets are sold and when the player knows if they have saved, less time for the ticket to be lost or forgotten,” said Matheson.
