You would think that winning the lottery is something you’d remember, and that every time you enter you would pay close attention to the results to see if your numbers have come out of the machine. After all, you don’t want to let hundreds, thousands, even millions to go down the drain do you?
Bizarrely, plenty of people win the lottery – or at least substantial sums of cash – and don’t claim their prizes for whatever reason. Some lose their tickets, some forget they even entered so they don’t take a look at their tickets or the results, others aren’t even aware they entered having done so for so long using an automated system or a workplace syndicate that they forget they even took part!
Each year there are millions – and globally there are billions – that go unclaimed, either from physical lottery tickets bought in shops or from tickets bought using online lottery ticket services like Lottosend.com (who compiled this cool infographic). Even when the tickets can be traced to a specific area, making the local and even national news, some lucky ticket holders either don’t come forward or don’t do so in the allotted time and the money goes back into generous charity projects around the country.
The graphic here shows just how much you could buy using the unclaimed prize money, ranging from substantial stakes in global corporations to numerous sports cars and, of course, gadgets. What would you buy?
