Friday Afternoon Update: I initially posted this blog entry earlier today with details about the unclaimed Pick 4 prize you see here as well as a Powerball® prize in Stuart. In a case of perfect timing, a player came in just a few minutes later and claimed the $50,000 Powerball prize that had been won 11 months ago. It’s exciting to see it get claimed! This blog entry is now updated to remove references to the Stuart prize.
Time is ticking away for a sizeable Iowa Lottery prize that is still unclaimed. And an even bigger prize is also on the unclaimed list, but there’s plenty of time to go before its expiration date.
There are just a couple weeks left for a $30,000 Pick 4 prize won in Des Moines. It will expire on Oct. 5 if it isn’t claimed by the close of business that day.
The $30,000-winning Pick 4 ticket was purchased at Casey’s, 2849 E. Euclid Ave. in Des Moines, for that game’s evening drawing on July 7. The $30,000 prize, which is the largest amount a player can win in Pick 4, was won with a straight play, meaning it would win a prize only if it matched the winning numbers in the exact order they were selected in the drawing. The winning Pick 4 numbers that night were 3-7-6-2.
The winner of the Pick 4 prize has until 4 p.m. on Oct. 5 to claim it at an Iowa Lottery office.
Interestingly, a $1 million Mega Millions® prize also is unclaimed in Iowa, but there are months to go before its expiration date. The $1 million-winning ticket was purchased at Gateway Expresse, 2400 University Blvd. in Ames, for the Mega Millions drawing on Sept. 6.
The Ames ticket was the only one in the country that night to win a $1 million prize by matching the first five numbers but missing the Mega Ball. That night’s winning numbers were: 6-17-46-59-68 and Mega Ball 2.
The winner of the $1 million Mega Millions prize has until the close of business on Sept. 6, 2023, to claim it at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive.
If you’re a prize winner and you have questions before coming forward to claim your winnings, please give us a shout at 515-725-7900 or email us at wmaster@ialottery.com.
In the last fiscal year, more than $1.5 million in lotto and InstaPlay prizes expired in Iowa without being claimed.
Time appears to be a factor. The Iowa Lottery reviewed plays from a sampling of recent lotto drawings and found that the vast majority of prizes are claimed within six months of the drawing date. Less than 3 percent of prizes from those drawings were claimed after that point. The Iowa Lottery will continue to review how it can best encourage and remind players to claim their prizes.
The money from lottery prizes that expire in Iowa without being claimed goes into the lottery's prize pools for future games and promotions, so it will be used to pay prizes, just not those prizes that have expired.
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