Winners of two lottery jackpots may run out of luck

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By David Heitz | Tuesday, May 8, 2007 11:25 AM CDT | () comments

Poke through your purse. Clean out your car. Rifle through your wallet. If you play the Iowa Lottery, it might be worth $100,000.

Lottery officials put up posters and handed out free tickets Monday at the Big 10 Mart on West 53rd Street in Davenport in hopes that two phantom players will come forward with $100,000 and $10,000 winning tickets that have gone unclaimed. The tickets must be validated by the close of business May 17.

Big 10 Mart sold the $100,000 ticket, and Kwik Star on Lincoln Way in Clinton, Iowa, rang up the $10,000 ticket.

“These are two big prizes we would like to see claimed,” Iowa Lottery spokeswoman Tina Potthoff said. She said the tickets may have been purchased by someone who had been passing through but does not live here.

Big 10 Mart received a $100 bonus from the lottery for selling the big ticket. If the ticket goes unclaimed, the prize money will go back into the lottery fund to pay for future windfalls. Just recently, a $200,000-winning ticket sold at a Hy-Vee in Des Moines went unclaimed by its March 11 expiration and the money went back into the lottery.

“It goes back to our players,” Potthoff said. “The prizes get bigger.”

Shannon Belt, manager of Big 10 Mart, said the unclaimed ticket has been the talk of the convenience store.

“I have one guy who plays regularly, and he thinks he threw the ticket away when he cleaned his car out. There’s another lady who thinks it might have been hers.”

Belt said she thought it was “really cool” when she found out her store had sold a winner during the Feb. 16 drawing of the $100,000 Cash Game. The ticket matched all five numbers for a winning combination of 9-16-20-26-27. Cash game winners have 90 days to claim their prize.

In Clinton, the $10,000 ticket matched four of the first five numbers and the Powerball during the May 17, 2006, drawing. The winning numbers were 15-17-24-26-35 and Powerball 38.

Winners may visit the Iowa Lottery at 2323 Grand Ave., Des Moines, or go to one of the lottery’s regional offices in Council Bluffs, Storm Lake, Mason City or Cedar Rapids to claim prizes. For more information, go to www.ialottery.com or visit a lottery retail outlet.

Belt said regular lottery players have been coming in with “stacks and stacks” of tickets to be checked. “I think a lot of people stuff them in their wallet or in their pocket like a receipt.”

She said when the jackpots get large, it is not uncommon for someone to buy $60 worth of “quick pick” tickets.

Heather Otte of Davenport stopped by the Big 10 Mart on Monday and picked up a free ticket. Otte said she wished she would have hit the jackpot. “I don’t know why somebody wouldn’t claim such a big prize. They should hide their tickets in their sock drawer or jewelry box or something,” she said.

Carol Jansen of Davenport also picked up a free ticket. She said she never has won more than $20, but if she did, “I’d put it on the refrigerator with a magnet.”

David Heitz can be contacted at (563) 383-2202 or dheitz@qctimes.com.

Are you the winner?

-- A winning $100,000 Iowa Lottery Cash Game ticket sold for the Feb. 16 drawing at Big 10 Mart on West 53rd Street in Davenport has gone unclaimed. The numbers are 9-16-20-26-27.

-- A winning, $10,000 Iowa Lottery Powerball ticket sold for the May 17, 2006, drawing at Kwik Star on Lincoln Way in Clinton, Iowa, has gone unclaimed. The numbers are 15-17-24-26-35 and Powerball 38.

The tickets must be validated by the close of the business day May 17.

Deadline to claim scratch-off tickets

The Iowa Lottery is ending four scratch-off games and players have until August to claim prizes.

“Piece of the Pie,” “Fishin’ for Franklins,” “Star Spangled Cash” and “Great Places” will be canceled. Players have until the close of business Aug. 13 to cash in winning tickets.

Players may visit the Iowa Lottery at 2323 Grand Ave., Des Moines, or go to one of the lottery’s regional offices in Council Bluffs, Storm Lake, Mason City or Cedar Rapids to claim prizes.

Winning numbers may be checked through the winning numbers hotline at (515) 323-4633. Winning numbers also may be checked by calling the lottery at (515) 725-7900 from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, at the Web site www.ialottery.com or with lottery retail outlets.