Did you remember to check your lottery ticket? These Texans didn’t — to the tune of $1 billion

If you had the numbers 9-21-30-32-75 — with the number 9 Mega Ball — on your Feb. 21 Mega Millions ticket, it was worth $1 million.

Key word there is was. The deadline to claim that jackpot was Sunday, unless the form was in the mail and had already been postmarked.

“Buying a ticket is only half of it,” said Robert Rivera, a former longtime Arlington councilman who serves on the Texas Lottery Commission. “You have to pay attention and go out and claim it. “But in the event someone doesn’t, the ultimate winner becomes the state of Texas — the people of Texas, rather.”

Unclaimed prize money goes to the Foundation School Fund, which is overseen by the Texas Education Agency and helps fund school needs across the state ranging from bilingual education to special education, according to the Texas Lottery Commission.

More than $1 billion in unclaimed prizes has been given back to the state since the Texas Lottery began in 1992, state records show.

That’s a lot of winners — from scratch-off tickets and lottery drawings alike — who didn’t claim their winnings.

The biggest year for unclaimed prizes was last year, when $83.5 million went unclaimed. This year, $52.8 million has so far gone unclaimed.

That means people throughout Texas might have been millionaires, or at least had a little extra cash in their pockets.

“If you took the time to play, [you] should pay close attention to their tickets, double check them and don’t throw them away,” Rivera said. “Verify whatever the ticket is.”

North Texas has been home to plenty of winners, most recently George L. West of Fort Worth, who claimed a lump sum of $828,089.60 for winning the top prize — $1,000 a week for the next 20 years — on a Weekly Grand scratch off ticket.

Texans like West who don’t want to talk about their lucky wins can ask the lottery commission for “minimal publicity.” After Sept. 1, a new Texas law will let anyone who wins at least $1 million ask to remain anonymous and have no personal information released to the public after Jan. 1, 2018.

As for the $1 million Mega Millions ticket from Feb. 21, the winner bought the ticket at the 7-Eleven at 7235 N. George Bush Freeway in Garland.

Rivera and other lottery officials remind Texans that there’s always an expiration date on lottery tickets.

And if you don’t know if it’s a winner, “you could take it to a local retailer and they can scan it and tell you whether it’s a winner or not. Or you can go to the lottery website and check for accurate postings of the numbers.

“Obviously we would like every winner to come forward and claim the prize,” Rivera said. “But in the event someone doesn’t, the money is put to a positive use.”

This story was originally published August 23, 2017 at 4:25 PM with the headline "Did you remember to check your lottery ticket? These Texans didn’t — to the tune of $1 billion."