Unclaimed lottery wins have become a large source of unclaimed money sitting with the state treasuries. It is unbelievable that lottery winnings and jackpots can go unclaimed, but the fact is, every year dozens of hefty jackpots are left unclaimed. Unclaimed lottery winnings have been on the rise and in most of these cases, the efforts to locate the rightful owners of these lotteries have gone in vain.
Most of the states have enacted very practical and lenient laws regarding the claim of lottery winnings. A claim period of 1 year is demarcated for the unclaimed lottery process in states like Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. Some other states have a validity time frame of three to six months. According to a USA Today survey, almost half a billion dollars of unclaimed lottery money was reported last year. Minnesota reported the expiration of a $1.5 million lottery ticket in January, while Oregon reported the expiration of $7.5 million lottery winning in June. Florida has announced that a $3 million worth lottery ticket is going to expire on Christmas Eve.
A few states have reported the actual volume of unclaimed lottery money: