Nobody claimed this $1M from a winning lotto ticket – and the deadline is today
For about 364 1/2 days, the $1 million has just been sitting there, waiting.
On March 26 of 2014, someone in Minnesota bought a Powerball lottery game ticket – and won that $1 million bucks, the Minnesota Lottery says.
But so far, nobody has claimed it. And at 5 p.m. Thursday, per the lotto's rules, it's gone. The one-year window to come get the prize is gone, and the winnings go poof (and get put into the state's general fund).
So, who's ticket is it?
Well, we know it was purchased in Hennepin County, somewhere. And the Powerball numbers for that drawing were 28-33-41-44-59, and the Powerball was 21.
Law would change unclaimed prizes rule
The Minnesota Lottery actually keeps a page of all current unclaimed prizes, updated daily. Click here to see it.
For example, there are two unclaimed $100,000 prizes from January, as part of the Minnesota Millionaire Raffle game; and a 2015 Ford truck that's also waiting for the winning ticket to stop by.
Rep. Joe Atkins, a Democrat from Inver Grove Heights, said in a press release it "breaks [his] heart" to see $1 million prizes being forfeited to the state.
He's set to introduce legislation Thursday that would allow officials to take extra steps on winning tickets of $100,000 or more.
First, the Minnesota Lottery would have to publicize the location where the winning ticket was purchased. Several other states currently do that, Atkins said.
But the Minnesota Lottery, on its FAQ page, says they don't do so as checking the retailer is part of the "validation security" process when someone comes forward claiming they have a winning ticket.
The second new rule in Atkins' proposal: If a winning Lottery ticket goes unclaimed for 10 months, the Minnesota Lottery would look at video footage and records at the store where it was purchased, and attempt to identify the winner.