GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – Someone in the Green Bay area has until Thursday of this week to claim a $50,000 lottery prize.
The Powerball Lotto ticket was sold at the Main Street Mini Mart ahead of the January 11th drawing, but nobody has come forward to pick it up.
“Our hope is that it’s not lost or thrown away, misplaced, or anything like that. We want to make sure winners are getting their winnings,” says Kailey Bender with the Wisconsin Lottery, “When it getting up close the deadline we like to get the word out – ‘Hey don’t wait too long.'”
Some people do like to wait until the last minute of the 180 day expiration to claim the prizes, just to have everything lined up. Many winners of larger prizes will get affairs in order first – or meet with tax professionals and attorneys before claiming the money. But that’s not incredibly typical for a win of this size.
Bender says it’s important to keep a close eye on your ticket number. Even when you don’t win the multi-million dollar prize, it’s possible you’re still making a profit.
“Often those tickets have those lower tier prices on there. So maybe you won $1 million, $50,000, $100, even $4. Make sure you’re checking your numbers every single time so we can get you your prizes,” Bender tells WTAQ News, “Sometimes people hear the jackpot was won in a different state, so they just toss that ticket and think it’s worthless, when in fact they could have won a lower tier prize. Money’s money, we’ll take those too.”
Winners can claim their prizes by mail, but it’s recommended to schedule an appointment with the lottery office in Madison to claim the prizes in person.
Unclaimed winnings go into the state’s property tax relief fund, which homeowners will see as a credit on their property tax bills.
The odds of winning the $50,000 Powerball prize is 1 in 913,130. Information on claiming prizes by mail can be found at wilottery.com/winners/
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