Mistakes Lead To No Winnings!

The Powerball and Mega Millions lotto draws are two of the biggest lotteries in the world. The largest ever Powerball win in history was $2.4bn won by a single ticket holder in California in November 2022 while the Mega Millions largest ever jackpot was $1.602bn won in August of 2023.

With life-changing prizes comes players all looking to strike it lucky, in fact 2 in every 3 people aged 18 to 40 buy lottery tickets in the United States.

There are two ways to play – at a retailer and online. Retailers produce a paper ticket while playing online means you’ll never lose your ticket and will always get your winnings. Based on those two examples, the only way you’d miss out on a prize would be by losing your ticket – right?

WRONG!

One man from Washington DC has recently filed a lawsuit against the Powerball lottery for not paying his life-changing win of 340million US Dollars, and this was after purchasing a ticket online! According to his complaint, John Cheeks, after using the birthdates of his family members for his lottery selection, was alerted to a win after his winning numbers flashed up on the lottery’s website. For three days the website was telling him that he had won $340million, but when he went to the retailer where he purchased the ticket he was told he was not a winner. The same message was relayed when he turned up at the Washington DC Lottery and Gaming prize centre.

So, what happened? A lawyer for Creeks said the digital advertising company which manages the Washinton DC Lottery's website made a "mistake" and posted the wrong numbers.

Another Jackpot Goes Unpaid:

A Mega Millions lottery ticket has gone unclaimed meaning someone has missed out on a life-changing prize of $36million (£8.5million in GBP currency).

The unclaimed lottery ticket purchased at a Publix supermarket in Jacksonville matched the numbers on August 15^th, 2023, drawing, they were 18, 39, 42, 57, 63 and 7 for the Mega Ball. Winners have 180 days from the date of the lottery draw in which to claim their prize. Sadly, this massive windfall will remain unclaimed.

According to FOX Business, the Florida Lottery said: “Florida law requires that 80 percent of unclaimed prize funds from expired tickets be transferred directly to the Educational Enhancement Trust Fund. The remaining 20 percent is returned to the prize pool from which future prizes are awarded or used for special prize promotions. Should a Powerball or Mega Millions jackpot ticket not be claimed within 180 days of the applicable draw date, the funds to pay the unclaimed jackpot will be returned to the lottery members in their proportion of sales for the jackpot rollover series.”

Source:

“Mega Millions £28.5million Lotto Jackpot Winner Walks Away With NOTHING After Failing To Claim Prize”, mirror.co.uk, February 17, 2024.