Million Dollar Lottery Ticket Expires; Money to Property Tax Relief

Caledonia ticket purchased in August was never redeemed

Madison, WI —For only the second time in the Wisconsin Lottery’s 22-year history a $1 million winning ticket has gone unclaimed and has expired.

A ticket sold in Caledonia in Racine County for the Wednesday, August 26 Powerball drawing was worth $1 million to the player who purchased it—up until yesterday. As of today, the 180-day prize claim period has expired and the $1 million will go into the funds the Lottery returns to state residents to help offset property taxes.

“We love to pay our winners, so this is very disappointing,” said Mike Edmonds, Lottery director. “The silver lining is that the money doesn’t disappear. It will help taxpayers.”

The ticket was sold at Mobil on the Park, 911 S. 27th St. in Caledonia. It matched all five regular winning Powerball numbers in the August 26 drawing to earn the ticket holder a $200,000 prize. But, because the player also purchased the game’s Power Play prize multiplier feature, the $200,000 prize was automatically multiplied by five.

Power Play turned the $200,000 ticket into a $1 million winner.

Time has now turned it into a worthless piece of paper.

“In six months we had no phone calls, no stories about the ticket being lost, or accidentally thrown away; no word of any kind,” said Edmonds. “it was very unusual.”

Only once before has a Wisconsin Lottery prize of this size gone unclaimed. A $1 million ticket sold in Crivitz in 1993 was never redeemed.

Posted @ 3:43 p.m.