Unclaimed Lottery Winnings Help After-School Programs in Tennessee

Every year, millions of dollars are spent on lottery tickets in Tennessee by wishful thinkers looking to strike it big. But last year, $18 million in lottery prizes went unclaimed.

For most, buying lottery tickets is a losing investment. Most estimates place your odds of being struck by lightning significantly higher than winning the jackpot. But despite the odds, Tennessee’s gross ticket sales rose from $1.84 billion in 2020 to $2.08 billion in FY2021. 

More than $1.339 billion in lottery prizes was awarded in 2021, yet an average of $18 million in lottery ticket prizes go unclaimed every year. There’s a variety of reasons for this, says Tennessee Education Lottery spokesperson Kym Gerlock. Once a winning ticket is declared, winners have only a certain amount of time to claim their prize. For drawing-style games, prizes must be claimed within 180 days of the date of the drawing. For instant-ticket prizes, or scratch-off lotteries, prizes must be claimed within 90 days after the announced game’s end date. 

And while some high-dollar prizes do go unclaimed, the majority of that roughly $19 million comes from smaller winnings — sometimes as small as a single dollar.

“It’s likely that these winners forgot they won, misplaced the ticket or perhaps didn’t realize they had won,” says Gerlock.

For instance, winners may be unaware that the popular Powerball, a drawing-style game, has nine different prize levels.

“The lottery encourages players to always check their tickets, even if the jackpot hasn’t been won, since there are other ways to win,” Gerlock adds. 

As for the millions in unclaimed lottery prizes, players may not know they’re inadvertently funding public education through scholarships and after-school programs. Under the Lottery Implementation Act, unclaimed prize proceeds from the Tennessee Lottery are used to fund the Lottery for Education Afterschool Programs, or LEAPs. During the 2021-22 academic year, $13.8 million in unclaimed prize money was used to support K-12 after-school programs for 67 grantees at 227 individual sites. Overall, these programs served 17,680 students.

Each school district applies for the grant, and Metro Nashville Public Schools are nearing the end of a three-year grant that fully funded programs for 11 schools. 

“To think of how many students we’ve positively impacted through those funds is amazing,” says MNPS extended learning coordinator Makeda Watson.

William Henry Oliver Middle School is one such recipient. With a $60,000 budget, the school hosts a variety of before- and after-school programs at no extra cost to students’ families. With input from teachers, parents and students, school programs were crafted to fit students’ variety of interests. This school year, students in the drama club put on two plays — High School Musical and Bye Bye Birdie. And while band and drama clubs were the most popular, students can also participate in groups with more niche interests. In the computer club, students re-created a digital version of their school for the MNPS Minecraft Build Challenge and won first place.

Lottery-funded programs have improved the lives of students and their families in other ways as well. For working parents, buses allow in-zone students to stay after school without needing a ride home. For teachers needing to make extra income, after-school programs keep them from needing a second job.

And for troubled students, after-school programs allow an escape. Adam Kaneski, who teaches and oversees school programs, is often on the lookout for troubled students. One particular kid, he says, was frequently absent from school and had a troubled home life. Kaneski then suggested he join the after-school art club.

“You can tell art class is very therapeutic for him,” says Kaneski. “I can tell the weeks that he’s not in school, he comes in, he’s kind of moping, kind of looking down, and the weeks he’s here, he’s going to clubs, he’s more positive and things are going well. I have a soft spot in my heart for him.” 

Out of more than 600 students at Oliver Middle, nearly half participate in school clubs. And while the chances of winning the lottery are extremely low, the chances of improving public education are substantially better. 

“A lot of these students wouldn’t have these opportunities at all if it wasn’t for people not claiming their lotto tickets,” says Kaneski.

Correction: A previous version of this article reported incorrect amounts for both the gross ticket sales and the lottery prize numbers. We have updated the numbers, and regret the error.