In life, there are those who forget their key, or forget to turn off the light when leaving their apartment… Well then, there are the others, rarer, who completely forget to go and pocket the millions they have just earned. win at games of chance! Between 2020 and 2022, a total of 220 million euros thus remained in the coffers of the FDJ. This is obviously not a French cultural exception, since the biggest unclaimed jackpots have occurred abroad. The world tour of lose, it starts now!
1. $77 million in the US Powerball lottery
A few weeks ago, a lucky winner won the biggest jackpot in the history of this American lottery with 2 billion dollars at stake. A record as disproportionate as that set by another player, a bit airheaded that one, who forgot to claim the 77 million dollars he had won in the winning draw of June 29, 2011. A dirty story whose little is known except that the ticket was purchased at a truck stop in Tallapoosa, Georgia.
2. €73 million in EuroMillions in the UK
180 days is the time that the lucky winner of the EuroMillions of December 5, 2012 had to come forward with the Englishwoman of the Games (or a name in the genre) after the draw which had seen luck strike at his door. Unfortunately, the unfortunate had more important things to manage and remained in the shadow of his anonymity, thus missing out on his earnings estimated at 64 million pounds sterling (73M euros). A jackpot that was redistributed to British charities. Like what, chance always does things well!
3. $68 million in New York’s Mega Millions
68 million is the gift that an American could have found under his tree the day after December 24, after his numbers came out in the Mega Millions lottery draw. Unfortunately, no one showed up to claim this jackpot… until one day a certain Fritzner Bechette showed up like a flower swearing to be the lucky winner of the jackpot… Unfortunately, Fritzner had a slight problem: he had misplaced his lottery ticket! Armed with his good faith and a solid lawyer, the man sued the New York lottery to pay him his 68 million + 1 or 2 potatoes as moral damages. For lack of sufficient evidence, he was dismissed and probably a little disgusted too. The only comfort: the owner of the newsstand where the real winning lottery ticket had been bought pocketed a bonus of 10,000 dollars!
4. $63 million in SuperLotto Plus in California
Or when the misfortune of some almost makes the happiness of another. In February 2016, a resident of Los Angeles approached the authorities to claim the 63 million dollars of SuperLotto Plus won… 181 days earlier, or 1 day after the expiry of the legal deadline to withdraw his winnings! In his defence, the man explained that he showed his winning ticket to lottery officials in August 2015, receiving first a letter of congratulations, then a second, explaining to him that the payment of the 63 million was finally suspended due to bad ticket status! During the trial that followed, the plaintiff, usurped by his good fortune, never managed to prove his good faith, unlike the organizers of the lottery who, after investigation, revealed that the real winning ticket had been purchased from a different retailer and especially on a date other than the alleged victim’s ticket.
5. $51.7 million in the Powerball lottery in Indiana
In September 2002, a player unknowingly bought the future Powerball winning ticket, with a jackpot of $51.7 million. Failing to see the lucky winner land, the organizers launched a real manhunt throughout the state with a lot of TV ads. Apart from a few crooks who tried their luck, the real winner never showed up. Better for him that he never finds out!
6. $14 million in Hot Lotto in Iowa
In September 2010, Eddie Raymond Tipton, a player from Iowa, is the proud owner of the winning Hot Lotto ticket, with the promise of winning a jackpot of 14.3 million dollars! With one detail… Eddie was then the former director of information security for the Multi-State Lottery Association. A position that prohibits him from participating in the game of his former employer. Eddie knows this but will still try to collect his due through a shell company he sends to claim the money just days before the expiration deadline. The trick almost worked, but the man was recognized by the surveillance cameras placed in the store where he had bought his lottery ticket a year earlier. Arrested by the police, the investigation revealed that the suspect had hacked the random number generator of the lottery so that his numbers were drawn. In the absence of a jackpot, Eddie Raymond Tipton has been serving a 25-year prison sentence since 2015 for fraud!
7. 8 million euros at the Loto in Haute-Loire
In France, we can be proud. Failing to win very big in the lottery as in the United States, we are also “small losers”. The sad record for the unclaimed jackpot in France thus peaked at 8 million euros in the August 13, 2011 draw. The winning ticket had been purchased in the small town of La Chaise-Dieu, in the only FDJ point of sale in the municipality. Despite the few players who frequent this establishment, the identity of the big winner remained unknown, the latter never showing up to claim his money. His winnings were finally put into play and won, during the so-called “Super Lotto of the Unknown” draw which took place in April 2013.
8. 6 million euros in Loto in Loire-Atlantique
If you live in Loire-Atlantique and you played the Loto in the February 12, 2022 draw, do not try to check whether your ticket was a winner or not. It’s too late to show up anyway. In France, the FDJ has the right to put an unclaimed prize back into play after only 60 days without news of the winner (30 days for scratch games)! This is the misadventure that happened to a player at the start of the year who thus missed the chance of his life, and incidentally 6 million euros!