Joe Raedle
- A winning $36 million lottery ticket went unclaimed in Florida.
- The would-be winner missed the deadline to claim their winnings after a 180-day window.
- 80% of the unclaimed prize will be transferred to a trust fund for education.
Somebody in Florida could be walking around blissfully unaware they forfeited the opportunity to become instantly rich.
A lottery participant lost out on $36 million when they failed to announce their winning ticket before the deadline, said the Florida Lottery.
The 180-day claim period for the Mega Millions August drawing ended with the 11th of February deadline.
The winning Quick Pick ticket was purchased at a Publix store in Jacksonville, Mega Millions reported, but was never claimed.
The Quick Pick option allows a machine to select a player's lottery numbers randomly.
The lottery tickets cost $2.
As Florida law requires, 80% of the money will be transferred to a trust fund for education. The remaining 20% will be held for the prize pool.
Another lottery ticket in Florida went unclaimed in December when $44 million was forfeited by a Florida Lottery ticket holder.
To validate the whopping cash prize, the participant must visit the Florida Lottery headquarters in Tallahassee to authenticate the ticket.
The ticket had been bought in June from a Sunoco gas station in Kissimmee.
Last September, a Powerball jackpot rose to $835 Million after multiple drawings produced no winner.
In another unfortunate lottery incident, a woman in California accidentally destroyed her winning ticket during a 2021 drawing. The woman couldn't provide the necessary "compelling substantial proof" that she had the winning ticket as she had ruined it by putting it in the washing machine alongside her laundry.
Mega Millions is offered in 45 states, Washington DC, and the Virgin Islands.
Business Insider reached out to Mega Millions for comment.