Valuable winning lottery ticket could be in your coat pocket

By SCOTT McFETRIDGE and JOSH FUNK
Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Thinking of lining up at the mini-mart for a shot at a $1.35 billion Mega Millions jackpot? Maybe you should first dig into your coat pockets or your car’s glove box to make sure you don’t already have a winning ticket from an earlier drawing. As players buy tickets ahead of Friday night’s drawing, lottery officials throughout the country say that every year players miss out on millions in prizes. That’s because some don’t realize they have won, while others decide cashing in isn’t worth the trouble of a small payoff. People nearly always show up for the biggest prizes, but million-dollar payoffs have been waiting for months to be claimed in Texas, Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan and Washington state.