Traveling Iowa, Talking About Unclaimed Prizes

Did you know that right now in Iowa, there are a dozen lotto tickets that have won prizes of at least $10,000 each – and they’re all still unclaimed! Where are the winners? 

We just got back from a trip to Council Bluffs, where we held an event a convenience store that sold a $200,000-winning Powerball ticket more than three months ago, and no one has claimed it yet. We hoped we might find the big winner there yesterday, but so far, there’s no news on that front.

So check those tickets! You could be a big prize winner and not even know it yet! And here’s a list of all the unclaimed lotto prizes in Iowa right now of $10,000 or more:

Powerball

Prize Drawing	Amount Won	Retailer	Expiration
Aug. 13, 2008	$10,000	Mother Hubbard’s, Bettendorf	Aug. 13, 2009
Oct. 11, 2008	$10,000	Casey’s, Osceola	Oct. 12, 2009
Nov. 19, 2008	$10,000	Hy-Vee, West Des Moines	Nov. 19, 2009
May 9, 2009	$200,000	Eddy’s, Council Bluffs	May 10, 2010
June 20, 2009	$20,000	Casey’s, Creston	June 21, 2010
July 1, 2009	$10,000	Wings America, Avoca	July 1, 2010
July 15, 2009	$10,000	Kum & Go, Council Bluffs	July 15, 2010
July 18, 2009	$10,000	Git-N-Go, Pleasant Hill	July 19, 2010
July 22, 2009	$200,000	Hy-Vee Gas, Davenport	July 22, 2010

Hot Lotto

Prize Drawing	Amount Won	Retailer	Expiration
March 4, 2009	$10,000	Kum & Go, West Des Moines	March 4, 2010
March 21, 2009	$10,000	Maggie’s Mini Mart, Sioux City	March 22, 2010
July 11, 2009	$10,000	Pronto, Kingsley	July 12, 2010

Comments

[Mary Neubauer]

Hi, Mike. You've raised a good point, but your guess was wrong! Prize money from lotto tickets in Iowa that expire without being claimed goes into the lottery's prize pools for future games. So the money is ultimately used to pay a prize, just not the prize that expired. Mary Neubauer

[Mike Byrne]

So,what happens to the money when nobody claims their winnings?I'm guessing the staff at the Iowa Lottery throws a big party and finds a way to split it between themselves.Or maybe they use it to finance Twitter.