An Ohio Man Threw Away a $100,000 Scratch-Off — And He's Luckier Than Most

Here's a nightmare scenario every lottery player should think about: You buy a scratch-off, toss it in the trash without checking it properly, take the garbage out — and only then realize you might have had a winner.

That's exactly what happened to a man in Willard, Ohio last week. He purchased a $5 Bingo 25 Times 25 scratch-off from the Ohio Lottery, apparently misread the ticket, and threw it away. By the time he realized his mistake, the ticket was already in the dumpster.

So he went dumpster diving.

He found it. The ticket was worth $100,000. After federal and state tax withholdings, he took home $73,250.

The Ohio Lottery confirmed the story on their official Twitter account on June 9: "What happens when you accidentally throw your winning lottery ticket away? You go dumpster diving!"

It's a feel-good ending. But here's the part nobody's talking about: this guy got incredibly lucky twice — once when he won, and again when he caught his mistake before the garbage truck showed up. Most people who throw away or lose winning tickets never get that second chance.

Billions in Prizes Go Unclaimed Every Year

The numbers on unclaimed lottery prizes are genuinely shocking.

States collectively report billions of dollars in unclaimed lottery prizes every year. Unclaimed rates vary wildly by game type — under 1% for daily numbers games, but more than 25% on some big Powerball and Mega Millions drawings where casual players buy tickets and forget to check them.

And it's not just small prizes going unclaimed. Some of the biggest unclaimed jackpots in history include:

• A $77 million Powerball ticket sold in Georgia in 2011 — never claimed
• A $68 million Mega Millions ticket sold in New York — expired worthless
• Two $50,000 Powerball tickets in Indiana that are set to expire in the coming weeks right now, as of this writing

Where does all that money go? It depends on the state. Some return unclaimed funds to the prize pool. Others funnel them into education budgets or general revenue. Either way, the person who bought the ticket gets nothing.

Why Tickets Get Lost (It's Not Just Carelessness)

Before you say "I'd never throw away a winning ticket," consider how it actually happens:

Scratch-off misreads are common. Games like Bingo 25 Times 25 have complex play areas with multiple number matches. It's easy to miss a winning pattern — especially under fluorescent gas station lighting at 7 AM. The Ohio winner almost certainly scratched the ticket, didn't see the match, and tossed it. That's not stupidity. It's human pattern recognition failing under imperfect conditions.

Draw game tickets get forgotten. You buy a Mega Millions ticket on Monday, stuff it in your jeans pocket, and check the numbers on Wednesday — but you checked the wrong drawing date. Or your Powerball slip sits in your car's center console for three months until you clean it out. Meanwhile, a $50,000 Match 5 prize is slowly ticking toward its expiration date.

Claim deadlines vary by state. Ohio gives you 180 days. New York gives you a year. Some states give you just 90 days. If you don't know the deadline, you might not feel any urgency — until it's too late.

How to Never Lose a Winning Ticket

This is the practical part. Five rules that take about 30 seconds each but could save you thousands:

1. Scan every ticket. Every single one. Most state lottery apps have a scanner function. If you don't want to use the app, take the ticket to a retailer and use the self-check terminal. Never rely on your eyes alone for scratch-offs — the Ohio man's eyes told him he lost.

2. Sign the back of every ticket immediately. An unsigned lottery ticket is a bearer instrument — whoever holds it can claim it. If you drop it in a parking lot and someone else finds it, that's their prize now. A signature doesn't guarantee you'll get your money back, but it's the single best protection available.

3. Store tickets digitally. Snap a photo of every ticket (front and back) the moment you buy it. This won't replace the physical ticket for claiming purposes, but it creates a record that the ticket existed and was yours. LuckMaker's Ticket Vault does this automatically — store your tickets digitally so you'll never lose track of what you're holding.

4. Set a check-in reminder. Use your phone. After every drawing, check your numbers. Don't rely on "I'll check eventually." Check your results at luckmaker3000.com/results and know within seconds whether you're holding a winner.

5. Know your state's claim deadline. This varies from 90 days to a full year depending on where you bought the ticket. If you're sitting on unchecked tickets from months ago, today might be the day to scan them.

Tonight's Jackpots Are Worth Checking

Speaking of checking your tickets: Powerball is at an estimated $238 million tonight (Wednesday, June 10), with a cash option around $106 million. And Mega Millions rolled over again last night — nobody matched 9-30-36-38-40 with Mega Ball 3 on the $392 million drawing, which means Friday's jackpot will climb even higher.

Before you buy new tickets, check the LuckMaker Score at luckmaker3000.com/games to see which games are giving you the best shot right now across all 98 games we track. And if you need numbers, the Lucky Number Generator is right there.

But more importantly: check the tickets you already have. The Ohio man's story ended well because he caught his mistake in time. Statistically, for every dumpster-diving success story, there are thousands of winning tickets that quietly expired in kitchen drawers, coat pockets, and landfills.

Don't let yours be one of them.

---

Wondering what you'd actually take home on a $238 million Powerball win? Run it through the Lottery Tax Calculator — the answer might surprise you.