LUCKY lottery players from one key state should keep their eyes out for a winning ticket.
There's an unclaimed lotto prize from Minnesota that's reached a whopping total of $130,000.
This ticket's numbers were drawn on April 3, 2023.
It was bought from a Speedway gas station at 1086 West Broadway Avenue in Forest Lake.
The numbers to look for in this case are 8, 11, 27, 30, and 37.
Minnesota's lottery office confirmed the prize money will expire one year from its drawing date.
That means players have until April of 2024 to find their ticket, and their claim, to victory.
"To confirm that a ticket is a winner, please have the ticket validated through a sales terminal at any Minnesota Lottery retailer," as per mnlottery.com.
Only cash prizes up to at least $25,000 are listed on the website.
According to official game rules, the prizes awarded as grand prizes, which match a player's first five numbers they pick, "are determined by a Pari-mutuel basis starting at $100,000 in the Grand Prize pool, with a minimum of $100,000 paid in a single ticket."
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To claim prizes over $50,000, players must go to the Minnesota Lottery’s headquarters in Roseville.
Appointments are recommended, and its hours are Monday through Friday from 8 am to 4 pm.
GOPHER 5 RULES
The Gopher 5 game started back in 1991.
According to mnlottery.com, it's exclusive to Minnesota's lottery, as, "Some of the best things are only available in Minnesota."
Players choose five of their favorite digits between one and 47 or use Quick Pick for the lottery computer to generate them randomly.
Note that the jackpot paid is "paid in cash and gets "divided equally among all winning tickets if there is more than one winner."
The minimum jackpot amount of money for each drawing is $100,000.
Tickets are sold for a dollar, and winning numbers are drawn every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Matching all five numbers scores the jackpot trophy, but there's a couple different combinations for winning more modest prizes.
Matching four numbers results in a $500 prize, while three amounts to $15, and two — $1, to earn the original ticket fare back.
Players have a one in 13 chance of matching two numbers.
The odds of matching all five of them to snag the jackpot is one in 5,333,939.
MORE TO SCORE
Minnesotans can enter another US lottery game specific to their state: North 5 — the five digits are picked between one and 31.
There's a few prizes from this game still unclaimed. The money's going off the market in the New Year.
- $30,000 ticket bought from Speedway in Saint Paul, expiring December 27, 2024
- $51,342 ticket bought from Holiday Station Store LLC in Warroad, expiring November 20, 2024
- $78,273 ticket bought from Kwik Trip in Saint Peter, expiring October 14, 2024
- $51,559 ticket bought from Winners Corner in Newport, expiring August 1, 2024
Plus there's some Powerball lottery prizes to keep an eye out for. All unclaimed tickets from these locations are going for $50,000 a piece:
- Casey's General in Litchfield, expiring July 8, 2024
- Holiday Station in Lindstrom, expiring October 9, 2024
- Cub Foods in Cambridge, expiring November 1, 2024
- Hy-Vee Food in Rochester, expiring December 13, 2024
- Cub Foods in Stillwater, expiring December 18, 2024
- Mt Iron Short Stop in Mountain Iron, expiring December 27, 2024
Gambling is inherently risky — and playing the lottery is a form of it. Participants should always try to play their cards carefully.
If there's someone you know who shows gambling addiction signs, call the National Gambling Hotline at 1-800-522-4700 or visit the National Council on Problem Gambling website.
Read More on The US Sun
One lucky player bought their $100,000 ticket from a Midway Food & Liquors store.
Another from New York had to forfeit two-thirds of their $1 million jackpot thanks to a certain rule.