Two Connecticut lottery ticket holders could see their financial woes all washed away — but only if they claim their winnings next month.
A winning $25,000 a Year for Life ticket, bought April 19 at a New Milford Stop & Shop, will expire Oct. 16, according to Connecticut Lottery officials. The winning numbers were 5, 8, 24, 28, 34, and the Lucky Ball number was 5.
The other prize is a $100,000 Cash5 ticket that’s only good until Oct. 22. That one was sold at Burnside Smoke Shop and Convenience store in East Hartford, with the winning numbers 1, 4, 14, 16 and 29.
“Check your tickets!” the Connecticut Lottery blared on its social media accounts about the two prizes.
There are three lesser unclaimed prizes as well, CT Insider reported. One expires Dec. 10 — a Fast Play $5 Moneybags Progressive that’s worth $355,829 — and the other two in February 2025. They are both Cash5 winners, one for $100,000 that was drawn Aug. 13 and expires Feb. 9, 2025, and the other worth $79,280, expiring Feb. 27.
Connecticut law stipulates that draw game and Fast Play winnings must be claimed 180 calendar days from the date the ticket was drawn or purchased, respectively.
The struggle is real nationwide. Million-dollar payoffs languished for months in several states in 2023, NBC News reported. Over the past five to 10 years, an average of $40 million to $50 million has gone unclaimed annually, California Lottery director Carolyn Becker told NBC News last February.
“Millions of dollars in California Lottery prize money go unclaimed each year — something I don’t think a lot of people realize,” Becker told the network in 2023. “I suspect most of those prizes are for people who never knew they’d won. Maybe they forgot to check their ticket, or misplaced it, and never saw the outcome of the draw.”