$77 Million Lottery Ticket Remains Unclaimed (VIDEO)

By Brittney R. Villalva, Christian Post Reporter Friday, December 23, 2011

A $77 million lottery ticket that still remains unclaimed is set to expire on Tuesday, 180 days after it was purchased.

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The winning lottery ticket for the Powerball Power Play was announced on June 29, 2011. The winning numbers were chosen using the quick pick option. Winning numbers from the drawing were: 24-30-45-57-59 with the Powerball of 26.

The ticket was sold in Georgia at the Pilot Travel Center on Georgia Highway 100 in Tallapoosa. The truck stop is located in Haralson County, a town with a population of 3,000. It is also five miles away from the Alabama State Line. Lottery officials have stated that if the cash option was chosen, the prize would be $40.8 million before taxes.

According to the History of Lotteries, the first English lottery was approved by King James in 1612. Records later revealed that lotteries played a large role in building the American colonies, and over 200 were permitted from 1744 through the American Revolution. Lotteries in the past were used for the funding of roads, libraries, churches, colleges, bridges, and other public works.

A recent report from ABC states that lottery funding is still given to very specific causes in most states. “Some states, like Iowa, put lottery money in the state's general fund, but most target it toward a particular purpose - environmental protection in Colorado, or school aid and crime control in Montana, for example,” the report said.

There is a dispute however, as to whether lottery funding helps or hurts the programs it feeds by affecting the allocation of State funds. Some argue that the effect of lottery funding is minimal on the cause because after lottery funding has been designated the state reduces allocated funding. However, Joe Mahoney, a spokesman for the Multi-State Lottery Association, which runs Powerball disagrees.

"There's a lot of worthwhile projects that go on around the country because of the lottery," he said.