Australians are encouraged to dig out their old lottery tickets, as there are 17 major unclaimed prizes totalling $116 million up for grabs. According to The Lott, the unclaimed tickets are distributed across several states: five in Queensland, nine in New South Wales, two in the Australian Capital Territory, and one in Victoria. However, there are no unclaimed prizes in South Australia, Tasmania, or the Northern Territory, and Lotterywest, which oversees lotteries in Western Australia, is not included in this listing.
The largest unclaimed prize is a staggering $100 million Powerball jackpot from last month. Additionally, six other seven-figure prizes remain unclaimed, including two worth $4.8 million (one each in the ACT and NSW), three approximately valued at $1 million (from Queensland, NSW, and Victoria), and one around $1.14 million from NSW. The remaining ten prizes vary in worth, ranging from $100,000 to just over $770,000.
A notable aspect of these winning tickets is they were not registered online or linked to the Members Club, preventing lottery officials from identifying or contacting the winners. Interestingly, historical data shows that previous mystery winners typically took an average of 10 days to come forward, although one Victorian winner took five months to claim their $2.1 million prize.
The urgency to check tickets is highlighted by two prizes nearing their claim deadlines: a $671,513 ticket purchased in Queensland on August 18 and a $200,000 ticket bought in New South Wales back in August 2019, both of which have limited time left for claims.
For those interested in the complete list of unclaimed tickets, including where and when they were purchased, more information is available online. Don’t miss the chance to check if you’re holding onto a potential windfall!