Locking the Stable Door !

Most people dream of winning a million dollars in Lotto but after each draw an amazing amount of money goes unclaimed and sometimes it includes the first prize which amounts to millions of dollars.
To make a claim you need to produce the ticket. Few people buy a ticket with the expectation of becoming a winner and as a consequence tickets often  reside in the murky depths of handbags - or go through the wash in trouser pockets.

In fact, a lot of people don't even take the trouble to check their ticket and there is a time frame applicable after which the lottery is not obliged to pay the winner.   We often hear of desperate searches for a missing ticket and sometimes a happy customer retrieving it and making a claim just in the nick of time.

The problem is that buying chances in lotteries is usually an impulse buy.  The wise register that purchase by presenting a registration card at time of purchase and this eliminates the need to present the ticket to claim a win. A registration can be made anywhere tickets are sold and the card arrives in the customers mailbox for later continuous use.

The experience of one such buyer of un registered Lotto tickets has been entertaining newspaper readers for some time.   He purchased a ticket in the Lotto game in the Lotto draw scheduled for September 23, 1997  in Greenfield Park and later after the draw presented it at the Granville railway station newsagency to check the result.   He claims he saw " provisional winner " appear on the screen but the attendant - who didn't speak English - said " No winner " and threw the ticket in the bin - and refused to hand it back to him.

That draw had a $3.3 million winning dividend - which was unclaimed and this unlucky punter has been pursuing his claim through the courts.  It is certainly a salutary lesson to others of the need to carefully keep lottery tickets in a safe place or to take the trouble to register the purchase so that any win will automatically be sent to the winner.

A better idea in this cashless age in which we live would be to establish a credit account with Lotto. This would allow the ticket purchase to be made by phone and wins are credited to your credit account.  There is the obvious advantage that you do not need to lodge a claim.   The Lotto computer checks each ticket number and automatically disperses winnings accordingly.

In the distant past, the law was such that should someone manage to find that winning ticket even years after the draw a successful claim could be made for the money.  That time factor has since been curtailed by law and after the cut off date the winnings disappear into what the government euphemistically  calls " consolidated revenue "  and which others describe as a " bottomless pit ".

Perhaps this is a timely warning to curb impulse buys and make sure that if luck smiles your way the loot will land in your bank account.