[ad_1]
One lucky South Australian man won the entire $150 million Powerball jackpot on Thursday night.
Even though he woke up and claimed his prize the next morning, there are almost $15 million worth of winnings waiting to be collected.
This got us thinking: What happens to the lottery prize money if it’s unclaimed?
Here’s what we found out.
What happens to unclaimed lottery winnings?
The Lott spokesperson Matt Hart told the ABC it varies across each state.
“In Queensland, New South Wales, and the ACT, there is a hard deadline of seven and six years respectively to claim a lottery prize,” Mr Hart said.
“If the prize money hasn’t been claimed, it generally goes to the relevant state revenue office.
“In places like Queensland, we do have the ability to use unclaimed money to give to non-for-profit organisations.”
Here’s an example to consider:
A winner from Queensland finds their ticket seven years and two months after the draw.
They will not be able to claim their winnings as the deadline is up to seven years.
In Western Australia, unclaimed prizes after 12 months are returned to the community through Lottery west grants.
For winners in Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and the Northern Territory, the rules are much more lenient.
“They have 12 months to claim directly from us,” Mr Hart said.
“After that time, the prize money goes to the relevant state government body and they have specific processes in place where a winner can claim the prize indefinitely.”
That means, even if Thursday night’s $150 million jackpot winner went to claim their ticket after the 12-month period, they would still receive the windfall.
How many lottery prizes are waiting to be claimed?
According to The Lott, there are currently 19 unclaimed division one and major lottery prizes worth just under $15 million.
Of these, there are nine in NSW, seven in Queensland, two in the ACT and one in South Australia.
Late last year, a winning ticket worth $1 million purchased on the Sunshine Coast expired after the seven-year deadline.
No one came forward to collect their prize, which means the money would have been transferred to the Queensland government.
