$1 Million Lottery Ticket Expires In Idaho

Someone in Iowa won $1 million 180 days ago. Unfortunately, they’ll never be able to claim their prize. The Idaho Lottery announced today that no one came forward to cash in a $1 million lottery ticket, which expired over the weekend.

The Idaho Lottery writes:

“After 180 days, one ticket worth $1,000,000 sold for the June 20, 2012 Powerball draw in Meridian has expired. Despite increased interest in the winning ticket from players last week, no one claimed the prize before last Friday’s deadline.”

The $1 million was sold at the Maverik, Inc. store in Meridian. It was a single line, $2 quick pick and is probably sitting under a pile of receipts in someone’s glove box.

According to Idaho Lottery rules, the winning ticket holder cannot cash in the ticket once it expires. The unclaimed money will now go into a lottery fund which helps fund government projects like renovating public schools.

The lottery will still give a $20,000 bonus to the Maverik, Inc. store for selling the ticket.

Idaho Lottery Director, Jeff Anderson said that he was surprised no one claimed the prize. With the holiday season around the corner, Anderson urged lottery players to make sure they check their tickets.

Anderson said:

“With the gift giving season quickly upon us, we cannot emphasize enough for players to check their tickets carefully after each and every draw for winners. With a holiday themed line up of scratch tickets and the Idaho $1,000,000 Raffle close to selling out, we want to remind players this season to sign their tickets and check them carefully for winners.”

The chances of winning the lottery are extremely slim, but they get even slimmer when you never check your tickets. If you’re going to go through the trouble to buy a ticket, why would you not check it?

Can you believe that someone let a $1 million lottery ticket expire?