You would consider yourself lucky when winning the lottery, right? Of course! In fact, the chances are always slim, so when your numbers are picked it must feel like you have just stumbled across that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. That pot you have been searching for your entire life! Just imagine? What a feeling…
But what happens if you walk right past it? You packed your bags, got your GPS ready and embarked on the journey! It's all about taking the chance, right?
Well, that's pretty much like the lottery, as they say "you have got to be in it to win it!" Now, after making all that effort you end up walking past that glorious pot of gold. It's there, waiting for you. You had the co-ordinates pointing right to it but you just don't see it! Then to make matters worse, you don't look back or even go back to check. How sad, you had all that expectation of finding it and it was there but now you return empty handed and simply forget about it.
It may all sound quite very farfetched, but it's pretty much what happened with the recent Canadian lottery. The Powerball winner has still not come forward to claim their prize. It hasn't been days, nor weeks but four months already and no sign of them. They have clearly, somehow missed their 'pot of gold.'
Hundreds of unsuspecting millionaires
It is apparently quite common for lottery winners not to claim their winnings immediately. It sometimes takes a few weeks before they come forward, as they get their lawyers and financial advisors prepped to manage their winnings. But four months? Seriously? I don't think anyone can hold out for that long knowing they have won $520 million!
This is not the first time a lottery winner hasn’t come forward though. There are apparently hundreds of missing lottery millionaires! When the jackpot is so massive, the secondary prizes are rather substantial too and this is when the most winnings are left unclaimed. It seems that people may become disillusioned when they don't win the jackpot and then either throw their ticket away or leave it stashed in a drawer somewhere. They don't bother to check if they have won any of the smaller prizes, which are sometimes quite massive. But in this case though, it is indeed the main 'pot of gold,' the jackpot win, that is still waiting to be claimed.
Mobile app can alert winners
This won't be an issue for very long though. A smartphone app has recently been developed that alerts lottery players if they have a winning ticket. They simply upload an image of their ticket to record their numbers. If the draw has already taken place, the app will notify of any winnings.
Unfortunately mobile scams are common too, but in the form of SMS messages that allegedly 'notify' players of a prize win. In most cases the scammers request some sort of fee. Either a processing or some sort of admin fee, before they can claim their prize. As a result, most lotteries prefer not to communicate prize wins via SMS or email.
Bottom line is if you buy a lotto ticket, check the results of the draw. Even if you aren't feeling lucky. Set a reminder on your phone, if you fear that you may forget about it. If you want to find that 'pot of gold,' then don't end your quest until you have checked every corner. You just never know.
