Period To Claim Illinois Lottery Prizes Extended During Pandemic

CHICAGO - The Illinois Lottery is extending the claim period within which winners can claim prizes during the coronavirus pandemic. Players with prizes set to expire between March 16 and May 31, 2020, now have until June 30. 2020 to claim their winnings.

“Players usually have twelve months to claim their prize,” Illinois Lottery Acting Director Harold Mays said in a statement. “During this difficult time, we wanted to extend the prize expiration date to provide players an extra opportunity to claim a prize that has been forgotten or misplaced.”

This extension includes a $2 million Mega Millions prize that was due to expire early this month. The ticket was bought from the Mobil station located in Joliet at 1600 New Lenox Road for the April 5, 2019, Mega Millions draw. The winning numbers for that drawing were 8 - 22 - 24 - 38 - 64 with a Mega Ball of 21.

“Considering many of us are spending a lot of time at home right now, if you bought a Mega Millions ticket in Joliet around this time last year, now s the time to check under your couch cushions, in your desk drawers or in your glove box to see if you’ve got the winning lottery ticket tucked away somewhere,” Mays said.

Before the extension of the prize claim window, players who won an Illinois Lottery draw-based game had twelve months from the date of the drawing to claim their prize. Players can check to see if their draw-based game ticket is a winner on the Lottery website results hub by selecting Players can also contact the player contact center at 1-800-252-1775, to check their numbers by date.

For instant tickets, players also had twelve months from the game expiration date to claim prizes. To look up an instant game expiration date, players can visit Illinois Lottery Instant Ticket Hub.

The prize claim extension applies to all prize levels for all Illinois Lottery games. Currently, Lottery prize claim centers are closed to support Illinois Department of Public Health guidelines for social distancing. As a result, players who wish to claim an expired prize during this time should fill out a claim form and follow the instructions for mail-in claims found at Illinois Lottery Winning When Win.