Check your old lottery tickets. It could be worth your while !!

[JoGeAr]

Two stories in the last week.



WA woman wins $13m from old Lotto ticket

16:05 AEST Thu May 28 2009
3 hours 59 minutes ago


A WA university student has exchanged an old lotto ticket for $13,185,273.

A woman who delved through a bundle of old Lotto tickets because of her family's money worries has come up with more than $13 million.
The woman, a West Australian university student in her 30s, won $13,185,273 after checking a 10-month old lottery ticket she'd received as a gift from her father.
The ticket was for a $50 million Oz Lotto jackpot draw on July 22, 2008.
Unaware of the ticket's 12-month expiry date, the woman decided to check a bundle of lotto tickets, hoping for a small win to help out her family.
"I woke up this morning worried about our finances," the woman told Lotterywest in Perth on Thursday.
"Something made me think to check the tickets and I thought that if I win something, then I could help mum and dad out."
Originally thinking she had won just over $13,000, the woman said she managed to remain calm as she was informed of the actual amount.
"I checked the commas and decimal places and then realised," she said.
"I always remember mum telling me that if I won Lotto, not to start jumping up and down in the shopping centre."
The claim solves one of WA's most baffling unsolved lottery mysteries.
The winning ticket was a $8.70 "slikpik", bought from the Beechboro Newsagency in Perth's eastern suburbs.






Granny wins $2m with old lottery ticket

16:19 AEST Tue May 26 2009
2 days 3 hours 50 minutes ago

A NSW grandmother who won $2 million after stumbling across a four-year-old Powerball ticket in a drawer plans to keep it a secret from her family - for now.
The 73-year-old retired dairy farmer says she and her husband, who have not been named, could have used the money years ago but will probably pass it on after they die.
"When you get to my age, you're trying to give things away," the woman said in a statement from NSW Lotteries.
"We will use the money to help the family down the track, but they don't know that we've won. They'll find out when we leave this world."
The woman was doing an autumn clean and came across an in a envelope which contained the Powerball ticket for the October 7, 2004 draw.
"My husband said that it would be too old to check but I took the ticket to the agent and they put me on the phone to someone from NSW Lotteries who told me it was worth $2 million," she said.
"I just went limp in the shop. When we got outside I told him how much we'd won and he said it could not have happened to a nicer person."

[English Noodles]

Both nice stories, but a question, the first story says there is a 12 month limitation on claiming the prize, which is okay as the first claim was only 10 months old, however, the second claim said the ticket was from October 7, 2004, are these two different companies?

[JoGeAr]

I was wondering that myself. They are both national lotteries, owned by the government, so the validity rules should be the same.

I tried to find some information on the Golden Casket website and found this under the 'Historical Results' page.

Please note: Prizes can only be claimed for 7 years after the closure of a lottery.

[DrAndy]

Lotteries are a tax on the stupid

[meow]

Lotteries are a tax on the stupid

Don't know about that entirely. The UK lottery is only £1 per ticket, and is always for amounts in the £ x millions.

What's £1 per week (somebody has to win) & money goes to charity.