If you bought an Idaho Lottery raffle ticket in Blaine County this winter, double-check it. It might be worth $1 million. The winning prize has yet to be claimed from this year’s raffle, along with several other smaller winning tickets.
The ticket was purchased at a retail lottery location in Blaine County. The winning numbers, drawn on December 29, 2021, were 027047.
While millions of dollars in prize money do go unclaimed each year, there has never been an unclaimed grand prize raffle ticket in the game's 15-year history, according to Idaho Lottery spokesman David Workman.
"There was one of the raffle winners a few years ago who did wait about 30 days to claim his prize. He was using his raffle ticket - his winning ticket - as a decoration on his Christmas tree," Workman said.
Winning tickets are only valid for 180 days and the raffle winner has until June 27 to claim the prize. Workman said between $3.3 and $4.8 million dollars in unclaimed winnings each year has been rolled into revenue for lottery beneficiaries like Idaho’s schools and the state permanent building fund.
Workman said a $10,000 winning ticket, five $1,000 tickets and more than three dozen $100 winning raffle tickets remain at large with the same June 27 deadline to be claimed.
Two notable $1 million Powerball jackpots have gone unclaimed: a ticket sold in Meridian in 2012, and another sold in Irwin along the Idaho-Wyoming border, in 2010.
This story has been updated.
