Unclaimed Prizes: Is One Of Them Yours?

Today is the deadline for people to claim prizes in “Iowa’s Million Dollar Raffle” game, which ended sales in June. One of the game’s $5,000 prizes is still unclaimed along with 11 prizes of $500. For a list of all the unclaimed raffle prizes and where the winning tickets were sold, click here.

The players who bought the winning raffle tickets have until the close of business today to claim them. The $5,000 prize must be claimed at one of the Iowa Lottery’s regional offices, and our ticket-validation hours end at 4 p.m. The $500 prizes can be claimed at our offices or at retail locations that sell Iowa Lottery tickets.

The unclaimed raffle prizes are just part of a much bigger picture that involves millions of dollars in Iowa Lottery prizes that expire each year without being claimed. Did you know that in fiscal year 2008, $1.6 million in tickets went unclaimed in lotto games in Iowa?

We’re often asked why we think prizes go unclaimed. There are probably as many answers to that question as there are people who buy lottery tickets.

Some players may just forget to ever check their tickets. Others might only check to see if they won the jackpot and not go any further, not realizing that there are many other smaller prizes that they also can win. Still others may have tickets sitting around at home and not check them until it’s too late.

We send out lots of reminders about unclaimed lottery prizes. Whether it be posters that we put up at the stores that sell the winning tickets or events that we hold there, interviews that we do with the media or lists of unclaimed prizes that we keep our Web site, we use a variety of ways to remind people to check and double-check their tickets. Look, someone has won each of those prizes and we want them to be claimed! Meeting our winners and learning their stories is one of the most entertaining and rewarding aspects of working at the Iowa Lottery.

Comments

[Darla]

I have a whole stack of tickets to check. Thanks for the reminder.