Deadline looms for $50,000 lottery ticket
Sunday, June 11, 2006 posted 01:08 PM EDT
A winning $50,000 lottery ticket sold in Coos Bay last June remains unclaimed, and if the owner doesn't do so by 5 p.m. Monday, their money will be gone for good.
The Oregon Lottery is encouraging those people who bought a “Win for Life” lottery ticket on June 11, 2005, to consult the check-a-ticket “Did I Win” terminals available at most lottery retailers. The information also is on the lottery Web site at http://www.oregonlottery.org. The winning numbers are 1-21-28-74.
The identity of the Coos Bay retailer that sold the ticket has not been released by the Oregon Lottery. That fact miffs some.
“I've talked to some people about this, and they think that when it's coming down as close as it is, a few days away, you'd think they'd let people know where it came from, so maybe people can know to look at their tickets,” said Wanda Weathers, owner of Wanda's Food and Beverages, and a lottery retailer. “A lot of people just put aside their tickets after they buy them and don't look at them again. I've seen lottery tickets that had winning numbers on them that people think didn't. They should be letting people know what store sold the ticket.”
According to Chuck Baumann, spokesman for the Oregon Lottery, security is the main reason the identity of the lottery retailer couldn't be revealed.
“Other states release the retailer's identity right away,” said Baumann. “Oregon chooses not to, because there are some nightmare stories of people who went to a lottery seller, handed them a winning ticket, and then were told it was not a winner. Then the clerk pockets the ticket and turns it in themselves. Our system keeps nightmare stories like that from happening here. It cuts off people who obtain winning tickets deviously.”
Baumann said another reason for withholding the information was to “reduce retailer angst.”
“The retailer that sold a winning ticket gets a 1-percent selling bonus if that ticket is claimed,” said Baumann. “Why add to the anguish of the retailer? Why let them know they should have money coming but don't?”
According to lottery spokeswoman Marlene Meissner, this could be a first.
“No prize between $100,000 and $50,000 has ever gone unclaimed in this state,” Meissner said. “We have a lot of smaller prizes go unclaimed, like $2 and $5 prizes, and we've had four prizes of over a million that have, but this is a first for this range.”
More than $5 million in lottery winnings went unclaimed last year, Baumann said, all of which was transferred to the state's general fund.
“Whenever someone doesn't claim their winnings, it's like the state hits a jackpot,” Baumann added.
Those interested in asking about the unclaimed jackpot, or asserting a claim for the prize, can call the Oregon Lottery at (503) 540-1000.
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