Every year in Michigan, there are millions of dollars in unclaimed prizes from the state’s lottery, although the majority of them are relatively small in value.
Only the largest unclaimed prizes are listed on the Lottery’s website.
Currently, there are unclaimed prizes worth $2 million and two prizes worth $1 million each in Michigan. If these lottery prizes remain unclaimed, they will expire after one year from the ticket sale or drawing date.
Make sure to search beneath your car seats and tidy up your cluttered drawer, as you might discover that one of these lottery prizes is rightfully yours!
The Powerball ticket for the drawing held on August 4, 2021, has won a $1 million prize. The winning ticket was sold in Ingham County.
The winning ticket for the Fantasy 5 drawing held on August 7, 2021, in Oakland County has won a prize of $100,000.
The Lotto 47 ticket for the drawing held on September 25, 2021 has won a prize of $2.05 million. The ticket belongs to Macomb County.
The winning ticket for the 10/8/2021 drawing of Fantasy 5 has a prize worth $117,053 and is from Kent County.
The Powerball ticket for the drawing held on February 14, 2022, has won a prize of $1 million. The ticket belongs to Macomb County.
How to make sure your lotto winner doesn’t go unclaimed
To ensure you receive your deserved prize money, consider purchasing your tickets online. By doing so, any prize amounting to less than $600 will be directly credited to your Michigan Lottery account. Furthermore, in the event of a substantial win, you will be promptly notified via email and through your iLottery account.
You can always check if your ticket is a winner using the ticket checker on the Michigan Lottery Mobile App, even if you didn’t purchase it online. Additionally, every MI Lottery retailer offers a ticket checker, so it’s quick and worth checking!
On its website, The Lottery provides a comprehensive list of all the potential methods to claim a prize.
Why are lottery prizes left unclaimed?
It is not uncommon for winners of large prizes, such as multimillion-dollar jackpots, to delay claiming their winnings. They often take the time to gather a team of professionals, including lawyers, financial advisors, and accountants, who can help them handle and invest their newfound wealth. Occasionally, winners may also establish a trust or an LLC as a means to claim the prize.
However, certain prizes remain unclaimed or go unnoticed due to various reasons. Some individuals are unaware of the existence of secondary prizes in multi-state games such as Powerball and Mega Millions, or they neglect to check their numbers once they learn that no one won the jackpot in their drawing. Additionally, some people simply do not make the effort to return to the store and redeem their smaller winnings or scratch-off prizes.
Don’t let those winning tickets expire!
In May of this year, a $1 million-winning ticket met its expiration. The Powerball ticket, which was sold for the drawing held on May 5, 2021, at Warren Market located on Mound Road in Warren, had no lucky claimant even after an entire year had passed. Finally, at 4:45 p.m. on May 5, 2022, the ticket reached its ultimate expiration.
The winning ticket worth $150,000, drawn on April 24, 2021, unfortunately expired the next day, April 25. This particular ticket was bought at Clarkston’s Pine Knob Wine Shoppe.
What happens to all that unclaimed money?
Unclaimed funds on a national level amount to billions of dollars annually, with the largest portion coming from multi-state games. Each lottery has established protocols in place to handle unclaimed prizes.
The website of Powerball displays the following policy.
The lottery jurisdiction retains unclaimed prizes, including Grand Prizes. In the event that a Grand Prize remains unclaimed, the funds must be distributed among all lotteries proportionally, based on their sales for the draw run. Each lottery then distributes the funds according to their own jurisdiction’s laws, which may involve allocating the money to other lottery games, their jurisdiction’s general fund, or as mandated by law.
The unclaimed prize money in Michigan is directly added to the Lottery’s profit, which is then allocated to the School Aid Fund. During fiscal year 2021, the Michigan Lottery contributed a substantial amount of over $1.419 billion to the fund, providing crucial support for education among children in the state.
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