Mega Millions? OK. I have to admit I’ve never played the lottery game and the only reason it’s a content subject is that it’s the trending topic – and because there’s an unclaimed ticket in a place called Somerville, Massachusetts.
The reason for avoiding even just the purchase of a whatever-dollar ticket is it’s the perfect example of what’s wrong with the American Dream today: there are too many people dreaming about an American Dream to realize that what they have as an American Dream is crumbling around us. As long as we wish for getting rich quick, we’ll never focus on building wealth via constructive activities like making things.
Some folks spend too much time on an effort designed to take their money. And the result is a large amount of money just sitting around uncollected. Almost makes me cheer for robbers.
According to the ibtimes.com:
The unclaimed ticket of multi-state lottery Mega Millions is going to expire in next three weeks and the owner of the ticket has not yet contacted the lottery authority.
The winning ticket was purchased on July 27, 2010 at McAleavy’s Newsstand in Somerville, Massachusetts.
“The holder of this winning ticket should immediately sign the back of the ticket and call lottery headquarters or visit a local Lottery retailer to file their claim before the ticket expires,” New Jersey Lottery Executive Director Carole Hedinger said in a statement.
There were 15 winning tickets worth the $250,000 prize, including three from New Jersey. Other 14 tickets have been claimed long back. The winning Mega Millions game numbers were: 2, 7, 10, 16 and 29 and the gold Mega Ball number was 8.
Also, the report explains that “about $38.2 million” in cash prizes has not been claimed over the last five years, and the unclaimed price amount broke all the records in 2010 when it reached $42.2 million.
You know what should be done with that money? It should be used for economic development in the states that run the game. In fact, the money used from tickets purchased goes to government services. I think 40 percent of that money should be designated for economic development – loans for businesses that would not ordinarily get financial assistance from local banks.
Stay tuned.
Bill Carroll