Powerball Players May Leave Millions Unclaimed This Saturday

ATLANTA, GA — As lottery players prepare for the Powerball jackpot of $1.8 billion this Saturday, many may forget about unclaimed winnings from previous draws. Victor Matheson, an economics professor at the College of the Holy Cross, highlights that as many as 1% of lottery winnings go unclaimed annually.

“The amount of unclaimed prizes is similar across the country,” Matheson said. With billions of lottery tickets sold each year, estimates suggest that over $1 billion goes unclaimed due to negligence or lack of awareness.

A notable unclaimed prize from last year was a winning ticket, worth $138 million, sold at a Walmart in Huber Heights, Ohio, on July 3, 2024. The winner had the choice of taking $65.8 million as a lump sum but still did not come forward.

In the last 25 years, eight major Powerball or Mega Millions prizes worth about $646 million have gone unclaimed. This accounts for about 1.5% of the total 520 major prizes awarded during that time.

Matheson points out that many players don’t review their tickets after hearing there was no jackpot winner or if the winning ticket was sold far from where they purchased their own. “Most likely, they don’t realize they have a winning ticket stuck in a wallet or drawer,” he said.

Winnings can range from $4 for matching the Powerball number to millions for matching five regular numbers without the Powerball. The Mega Millions offers $2 million for that combination, while Powerball awards $1 million or $2 million if the player opted for the Power Play feature.

States have varying deadlines for claiming prizes. The Powerball website lists unclaimed prizes of $50,000 and above along with the deadlines. Recently, a $50,000 prize from a ticket sold in Covington, Louisiana, expired as it went unclaimed on Friday.

Matheson emphasized that most lottery revenue comes from other forms of gaming. Around 70% of the $110 billion in tickets sold is from instant scratch-off games, which typically have shorter claim periods, reducing the chances of players forgetting to cash in their tickets.