As you well know, one of the biggest Mega Millions prizes was given this past weekend. In the drawing there was a winner from Illinois who took home $1,337 million dollars. However, the person carrying the ticket has not yet appeared, so it is normal for us to wonder if he has lost the ticket.
If you were the winner of Mega Millions and you did not find your ticket, could you still collect your prize?
If you lose your winning ticket, please note that Mega Millions is not responsible for lost or stolen tickets, as explained on its official site. Given this, the best thing you can do is protect yourself by signing the back of it.
You must remember that lottery game tickets are generally bearer instruments. This means that anyone in possession of the ticket can claim the money. But, if they are signed, then only the person who signed it could collect it.
If it turns out that you do indeed lose the winning ticket and never claim it, then each participating state that sells Mega Millions gets all the money back that contributed for that specific award.
Then, each state uses that money for different purposes. In the case of New York, for example, it is used to support schools.
In the state of Illinois, the Winner has one year to collect their prize. And to collect it, you have two options: an option of a single cash payment or receive annual payments.
As for the annual payments, the winner would receive a first payment followed by 29 annual payments plus. Each payment is 5% higher than the previous one.
As for the option to receive a single cash payment, the winner receives a single payment that is equal to all the cash in the Mega Millions jackpot prize pool.
In the case of the $1,337 million winning ticket, if you choose to receive a single lump sum payment, you would be given $337.5 million dollars.
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