Two Big Prizes Unclaimed In Tipton

It’s unusual for any particular community to have a big unclaimed lottery prize and the eastern Iowa city of Tipton, population 3,200, currently has two! We’ve been having some fun with the possible reasons why.

Is it that Tipton the most forgetful place in Iowa? Or a town full of practical jokers? Maybe Tipton is the unluckiest lucky city ever? Whatever the reason, two tickets purchased in the Cedar County seat that each won a sizeable Powerball® prize – $1 million and $10,000 to be exact – are still unclaimed several months after they hit it big.

We held a news conference in Tipton today to spread the word about the unclaimed prizes and remind lottery players to double-check their tickets. We don’t want to see these prizes go unclaimed, so if you think you bought a ticket in the last several months in the Tipton area, PLEASE get it out and check it!

We’re at the six-month mark for the $1 million-winning ticket. It was purchased at Kum & Go, 2050 Iowa Highway 38 in Tipton, for the Powerball drawing on Nov. 16. The ticket matched the first five numbers but missed the Powerball to win a $1 million prize. The winning numbers that night were: 10-29-37-44-59 and Powerball 10.

The winner or winners of that prize have until the close of business at 4 p.m. on Nov. 17 of this year to claim the winnings at lottery headquarters in Des Moines.

The $10,000-winning ticket was purchased at Family Foods, 610 Cedar St. in Tipton, for the Powerball drawing on Jan. 22. The ticket matched four of the first five numbers and the Powerball to win a $10,000 prize. The winning numbers that night were: 1-2-7-9-55 and Powerball 29.

The winner or winners of that ticket have until the close of business at 4 p.m. on Jan. 22, 2015, to claim the prize at any of the Iowa Lottery’s offices, which are in Council Bluffs, Storm Lake, Mason City, Des Moines and Cedar Rapids.

Now, when there are big unclaimed prizes in Iowa, we’ll often get questions from folks who wonder if they might be the winner. In the case of the $1 million unclaimed prize, we got an inquiry this week that seems credible, but as we’ve said many times before, we won’t know anything for sure until a winning ticket is presented and confirmed here at the lottery. After all, you do have to present a winning ticket to claim a prize!

For a list of the biggest lotto prizes that are currently unclaimed in Iowa, click here.