Lottery News

Nation's first-ever $10 Million Powerball Double Play ticket that was sold in Maryland went unclaimed this week, after a full year of waiting for the winner to come forward.

It was on September 27, 2021, that a lottery player in Maryland made history after buying a Powerball ticket with the Double Play option and winning the first $10 million top prize from the add-on feature's drawing!

But a year later on Monday, the ticket expired and the top prize money went unclaimed completely.

According to the official Maryland Lottery rules, a winner has 182 days from the date of drawing to claim their lottery winnings before it expires. Since no one came forward to claim the $10 million top prize by 4:00 pm on Monday, the wealth returned back to the state accounts.

The Maryland Lottery had also put out a reminder in February that the ticket would expire in a month. As the ticket was sold at Rockville Exxon on Rockville in Rockville last year, and the only thing lottery heard was "crickets".

While there are many a time that winning tickets do expire, lottery spokesperson Seth Elkin said that it's rare for a large prize like this to get unclaimed! He added, "it happens very infrequently with a big winner, and by far, most of the unclaimed prizes that occur, are of rather smaller amounts".

Now as per the state laws, the $10 million Powerball Double Play top prize will go back to the lottery's prize fund, which further contributes to future lottery prizes.

Lastly, the Maryland Lottery encourages the players to check their tickets frequently and sign the back of their tickets to prevent anyone else from claiming their lottery prize!

Apart from this, you can always check The Lottery Lab for the latest lottery results and rules governing each and every state lottery game, so that you do not miss out on winning and enjoying the newfound wealth!