$81.5 million Streamwood lottery ticket still unclaimed
Whoever holds that $81.5 million lottery ticket purchased in Streamwood 10 days ago still hadn't come forward to claim the prize as of Friday.
Whoever that lucky person may be is likely consulting with an attorney or financial adviser and otherwise getting things in order. After all, he or she still has more than 11 months left to claim the prize.
That person and a fellow unknown winner in New Jersey will split a pot of $163 million, thanks to their lucky numbers being drawn in the 12-state MegaMillions game on Dec. 18.
Illinois Lottery spokesman Courtney Hill said it's not rare for an overjoyed winner to hold back from the limelight on the first day of winning -- or even the first week.
In fact, it often takes a couple weeks to a couple months for a name to be put to a huge cash payout.
"The biggest thing they're usually doing during this time is securing legal or financial counsel," Hill said.
Among the questions winners like to have answered in advance is whether it's better for their situation to take a lower lump-sum payment up front or a larger prize over time.
In general, lottery winners are getting more savvy about how they handle winning and are even clever about not giving themselves away early to neighbors, employers, coworkers and acquaintances.
"Generally, they don't want people to know that they've won right away," Hill said.
Nevertheless, it took Joe and Sue Kainz of Tower Lakes only eight days to come forward in May 2000 as the winners of $181.5 million in the seven-state Big Game. They split a $363 million prize with a winner in Utica, Mich.
John Sweeney, the owner of JM Sweeney Oil Co. in Lake Zurich, where the Kainzes bought their winning ticket, won $1.81 million himself -- the 1 percent bonus for selling it.
Since then, such 1 percent bonuses for retailers have been capped at $500,000 -- which is what Bob Stambolic, the owner of the Streamwood Shell station that sold last week's winning MegaMillions ticket, will receive.
The Shell is one of two dozen in the area that are jointly owned. Stambolic told ABC 7 Chicago last week that he planned to give his five general managers $10,000 each from the winnings.
At the station at Route 59 and Irving Park Road, much of last week's hubbub had died down by Friday. The focus was back on getting drivers in and out quickly to battle snow-covered streets.
Station employees Friday said they've never learned exactly when the winning ticket was sold or who was on duty at the time.
The Shell station hasn't received its payment yet, but won't have to wait until the actual ticket holder comes forward, Hill said. Stambolic will probably receive his retailer bonus within a few more weeks.
Since 1994, an average of about $24 million a year in Illinois Lottery winnings has gone unclaimed, Hill said.
These unclaimed winnings are usually the combination of many small prizes. For a prize as large as this month's MegaMillions to go unclaimed would be extremely uncommon, Hill said.
Sometimes people do forget about or lose track of their tickets for a while, he added. But again, the larger the prize is, the more unlikely this is to be the case, he said.
The winner of the MegaMillions prize almost surely knows it, despite the fact that he or she is still laying low.