$150,000 Pennsylvania Powerball Ticket Expires This Month
Friday March 6th 2020Check your tickets, Pennsylvania lottery players! A winning Powerball ticket worth $150,000 sold in Chester County will expire on March 27 if the prize isn't claimed.
The ticket was sold at the Turkey Hill Minit Market at 4031 Horseshoe Pike in Honey Brook, a township about halfway between Philadelphia and Harrisburg in the state's southeast.
The ticket matched four of the main white balls plus the red Powerball to win the prize in the March 27, 2019 drawing. The winning numbers were 16, 20, 37, 44, 62 and Powerball 12.
Normally the third tier Match 4 + Powerball prize is $50,000, but in this case the player added the $1 Power Play option when they bought the ticket. Power Play multiplies prizes below the jackpot. The Power Play number drawn on March 27 was 3X, so the ticket's value tripled.
The winner should immediately sign the back of the ticket and store it in a safe place.
Pennsylvania has a claim period of one year from the draw date, although other states give players only 90 or 180 days to claim.
The claim must be filed with the Pennsylvania Lottery by the end of the business day on Friday, March 27. The winner may complete a claim form and send it to the Lottery along with their ticket, or attend a Lottery office in person. There are seven offices throughout the state, which are open Monday through Friday from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, plus the Headquarters in Middletown, which is open from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm.
What happens if the prize expires?
Under Pennsylvania law, unclaimed prize money stays in the Lottery Fund, which supports programs for the state's seniors, including rent and property tax rebates, free or low-cost public transportation, and reduced-price prescriptions.
Since the Lottery began in 1972, it's distributed over $30 billion to benefit older residents - the only state lottery to use its revenue exclusively for seniors' programs.
Powerball jackpot also won on March 27
The $768.4 million Powerball jackpot was also won in the March 27, 2019 draw. The winner was 24-year-old Manuel Franco of West Allis, Wisconsin, who said he had "a weird, lucky feeling" when buying his ticket.
There were a total of 5,448,855 winners in the draw.
In addition to the jackpot, seven tickets won the $1 million Match 5 second prize in the March 27 draw by matching all five white balls but missing the Powerball. Two of those were doubled to $2 million because Power Play was added at the time of purchase.
But since the Power Play number drawn was 3X, why didn't the winners get $3 million? That's because Power Play only doubles Match 5 prizes, no matter what the Power Play number is.
An additional 130 tickets won $50,000 by matching four main numbers plus the Powerball, and six of those prizes were won in Pennsylvania.
Of the 130, 20 players added Power Play, bringing the value of their prizes up to $150,000 each. The unclaimed ticket was the only $150,000 prize won in Pennsylvania.
Billions of dollars in lottery prizes go unclaimed
Amazingly, players across the country lose out on billions of dollars in unclaimed lottery prizes every year. For example, a $14.6 million ticket expired in Arizona last December!
When the jackpot hits a very high level, as it did for the March 27 draw, the number of unclaimed tickets increases - partly due to more people playing.
So why are players leaving so much money on the table? These are the three biggest reasons:
- Lost tickets - Don't let your ticket end up on the floor of a truck or left behind on the counter
- Didn't check numbers - With lottery apps for iOS and Android and online ticket checkers for Powerball and Mega Millions, you'll never make this mistake, right?
- Didn't know about non-jackpot prizes - Many people don't realize there are large non-jackpot prizes available - on Powerball, you could win up to $2 million with Power Play
Here's hoping the Pennsylvania ticket won't add to the sad total of expired prizes!
Next Powerball drawing tonight
The Powerball jackpot currently stands at a cool $100 million for the next drawing on Saturday, March 7, and there's still time to get your tickets.
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