$16.2 Million Jackpot Prize Remains Unclaimed: What Happens If It's Not Claimed?

A $16 million Texas lottery jackpot remains unclaimed even though someone had bought the winning ticket at a gas station.

The winning Quick Pick ticket — worth an estimated annuitized $16.25 million — was purchased at the RaceTrac gas station at 1809 Justin Road in Flower Mound, Texas Lottery said in a statement.

The ticket matched the numbers 1, 16, 19, 39, 42 and 46 from the Lotto Texas drawing Saturday.

"It was a very happy new year for one lucky Texas Lottery player, and we look forward to meeting the first Lotto Texas jackpot winner of 2022," Gary Grief, Texas Lottery's executive director, was quoted as saying.

The ticket's claimant will have 180 days from the draw date to claim the prize, which amounted to $12,660,841.60 before taxes since the cash value option was selected at the time of the ticket's purchase, according to the lottery.

The prize must be processed at Texas Lottery's headquarters in Austin, for it is greater than $5 million, the organization said.

"If you have the winning ticket, we encourage you to sign the ticket, put it in a safe place, seek financial and legal advice and call the Texas Lottery to schedule an appointment to claim the prize," Grief said.

Texas Lottery ticket holders forfeit any claims to prizes for a draw game after the expiration of the 180th day following the draw date. However, the deadline may be extended for a period of time for "eligible" military personnel.

It is unclear what happens to unclaimed Texas Lottery prizes.

In the case of the Powerball, unclaimed prizes are kept by the lottery jurisdiction.

"If a Grand Prize goes unclaimed, the money must be returned to all lotteries in proportion to their sales for the draw run. The lotteries then distribute the money, based on their own jurisdiction's laws, to other lottery games or their jurisdiction's general fund, or otherwise as required by law," the lottery explained on its website.

Other state lotteries also have a similar way of handling unclaimed prizes.

Unclaimed jackpots from the Minnesota Lottery, which sees around $10 million worth of unclaimed prizes each year, is moved to the state's general fund, WCCO Channel 4 reported.

The money can then be used for state-funded projects like roads and schools, among other things.