Expiration Date Approaches for Unclaimed Lottery Funds

Every so often, we give you this little reminder: Check those lottery tickets.

KYW's David Madden reports that you just might be holding a big winner and not even know it.

It's not just Mega Millions and Powerball. Games like Cash 5 and Pick or Match 6, depending on your side of the Delaware River, have unclaimed five and six figure jackpots. More than a million dollars worth in Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania suburbs that'll be coming due in the next few months.

Kirstin Alvanitakis is a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Lottery, and she says any unclaimed prizes -- like the $21-million dollars worth in the last year -- go right back into the lottery:

"An extra $21-million in expired prizes will go toward funding senior programs like prescription drug assistance through PACE and PACEnet, property tax and rent rebates, senior centers -- all that good stuff."

You've got a year from the drawing to make a claim. And most lottery agents have scanners that'll let you check if your ticket is a winner.