A quarter of a million dollars is waiting for a home, but the time to claim it is slipping away. A Lucky Day Lotto ticket, worth a substantial $250,000 and bought in Chicago's Little Village, may soon transform from a dream come true into a missed opportunity if the winner doesn't step forward. This particular ticket was sold at Fairplay Finer Foods, located at 2200 South Western Avenue, and is linked to an October 29, 2023 drawing, according to NBC Chicago.
As the Illinois Lottery spells out, winners have a narrowly defined window of 364 days from the drawing date to claim their winnings, placing the expiration date for this ticket on October 29, 2024. "If you think you purchased a Lucky Day Lotto ticket for last year's October 29 drawing, now is the time to check under your sofa cushions, in old coat pockets, or any other spots where a year-old lottery ticket might be tucked away," a spokesperson for the Illinois Lottery expressed in a statement obtained by ABC7 Chicago. This is not an isolated incident; the Illinois Lottery reports there are nearly $4.5 million in unclaimed prizes looming across the state.
Amongst the unclaimed is a $100,000 ticket sold at Huck's on 319 East Calumet Street in Centralia – its numbers had come up in a draw on March 23, 2024. Another significant prize, a 1 million dollar winner, is sitting unspoken for; the ticket was sold at the ARCO at 2758 West Peterson Avenue with the fateful draw on July 6, 2024.
