# Multiple Powerball winners: what if 1+ don't claim their share?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-powerball-winners-what-if-1-dont-claim-their-share/665827>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 9, 2013, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-powerball-winners-what-if-1-dont-claim-their-share/665827 "2013-08-09T19:18:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\
**Post date:** [August 9, 2013, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-powerball-winners-what-if-1-dont-claim-their-share/665827/1 "2013-08-09T19:18:16Z")

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There were three winning tickets for Wednesday’s powerball drawing. As of this moment, two of them have claimed their shares.

If the third doesn’t come forward within the required window of time, what happens to that 1/3 share? Does it get divided among the two existing winners so that they each get half of the prize, or does it get folded back into the prize for future drawings?

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**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\
**Post date:** [August 9, 2013, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-powerball-winners-what-if-1-dont-claim-their-share/665827/2 "2013-08-09T19:28:33Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> Unclaimed prizes are kept by the lottery jursidiction. About half of the lotteries are required to put the money back into a game. The other half is required by law to turn the money over to the state’s general fund. If a jackpot is unclaimed, The money must be returned back to all lotteries, in proportion to their sales for the draw run. The lotteries then distribute the money as they are required by law - back into other lottery games or back to the state’s general fund.

[http://www.powerball.com/pb\_contact.asp](http://www.powerball.com/pb_contact.asp)

For me that infers any unclaimed prizes for shared prizes are retained by the lottery.