Two Winning Powerball Tickets Worth $1 Million Still Unclaimed In Michigan
If you’re a Michigan Powerball player, It might pay off to scrounge up your tickets from previous drawings and check them one more time. The Michigan Lottery’s list of major unclaimed prizes shows some hefty sums that haven’t been claimed since they were won months ago.
Lottery prizes in Michigan expire one year from the drawing date. The Lottery has no way to know who bought the winning tickets; they only know where the winning tickets were sold.
The oldest prize on the list is a Lucky for Life prize hit on Aug. 13, 2024. The prize has a $390,000 cash value, and was sold by Sunoco Utica in Shelby Township, Macomb County. The winning numbers from that drawing were 13-26-34-37-48, Lucky Ball 2.
But the Michigan Lottery has bigger fish to fry.
Pair of $1 million Powerball prizes purchased in Michigan remain unclaimed
Over Halloween weekend last year, three Michigan Powerball players won $1 million each, as the jackpot was crossing the $1 billion mark. As of Jan. 27, two of those winners have not come forward to claim their prize.
The two unclaimed tickets were sold for the Oct. 29, 2024, drawing at the following locations:
- New Buffalo Shell located at 18913 Laporte Road in New Buffalo, Berrien County
- Billy’s Liquor Depot II located at 27222 Grand River Avenue in Redford, Wayne County
To win the second-tier $1 million prize, a ticket has to match the first five numbers in any order, but not the red Powerball.
The winning numbers for that drawing were: 19-31-40-46-57, Powerball 23.
Nine Michigan Lottery Powerball tickets hit $1 million during fall
By late October last year, the Powerball jackpot had topped $500 million and was charging toward $1 billion. As we know, a higher jackpot tends to drive more ticket sales. Michigan players must have been feeling lucky, because the Lottery sold more than 43 million tickets during that jackpot run, from Aug. 6 to Nov. 7.
Leading up to the $2 billion jackpot win in California, nine tickets in Michigan hit the $1 million prize. The other seven winners have claimed their prizes. Those winning tickets were sold at the following locations:
Aug. 24 – Meijer gas station, located at 8994 Shaver Road in Portage
Sept. 24 – Otsego Party Store, located at 629 South Farmer Street in Otsego
Oct. 19 – Fast Freddie’s, located at 2245 Main Street in Ubly
Oct. 26 – Charaf Oil Inc, located at 7000 Greenfield Road in Dearborn
Oct. 31 – CVS Pharmacy, located at located at 626 West Front Street in Traverse City
Nov. 5 – K&G Deli, located at 5625 Conner Street in Detroit
Nov. 7 – Country Corner Supermarket, located at 10039 Buchanan Road in Stanwood
The winning ticket from Halloween night, Oct. 31, was previously on the unclaimed prizes list. However, the winners claimed the prize at the end of the year. That ticket belonged to a group of 78 nurses, doctors and other healthcare workers from Traverse City that call themselves the Heroes to Zeroooos Lottery Club.
Michigan Lottery resources to get you paid faster if you win
With this Saturday’s Powerball jackpot estimated at $572 million, ticket sales are likely on the rise. If you’ve bought tickets or plan to, now is a good time to review the resources and options provided by the Michigan Lottery to help ensure you don’t leave money on the table.
The ticket checker built into the Michigan Lottery mobile app is the most handy resource for checking your own tickets. Simply scan the ticket using your phone’s camera from the Lottery app. In addition, every MI Lottery retailer has a ticket checker or you can ask the cashier to check your tickets.
With Michigan’s iLottery, players can buy online tickets for Powerball and other draw games. The benefit of online tickets is that you’ll be automatically notified if you win a prize. In addition, prizes less than $600 are paid to your Michigan Lottery account automatically. If you hit a larger prize, you’ll get an email along with a notification in the Michigan Lottery app.
Online Powerball winner automatically notified of $500k prize
A Rochester woman recently experienced the automatic prize notification first hand, when her online ticket matched four white balls and the Powerball on Dec. 14. A match that would have won her $50,000 was multiplied by 10 because of the 10x Power Play multiplier drawn that night.
The winner, Deborah Bates, 65, told the Michigan Lottery:
“When I logged in to my Lottery account and saw my account balance was $500,000, I couldn’t believe it! I woke my husband up and had him look everything over to make sure it was real. It still hasn’t sunk in that I won!”
Bates recently claimed her prize at Lottery headquarters.
Plan ahead and be prepared when playing Michigan Lottery games
For those who like to play regularly, the Michigan Lottery also offers subscriptions for Powerball, Mega Millions, Lotto 47, Fantasy 5 and Lucky for Life. A subscription allows you to set up weekly recurring purchases of your favorite tickets, with your numbers and add-ons, so you never miss a drawing.
It was Louis Pasteur who said “Chance favors the prepared mind.” While buying tickets on subscription doesn’t increase your chance of winning, it does decrease your chance of missing out on a prize you’ve won. That, and there’s no physical ticket to misplace.
While some lottery winners simply choose to take their time when claiming a big prize, some tickets do get lost or overlooked. Last year a $1 million Powerball ticket expired in May, and a $150,000 winner expired in April.
However you choose to play, make sure to keep your tickets safe so your potential prize doesn’t end up on the unclaimed prizes list.
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