Gamblers who particpate in the local lottery games have lost out on $120 million which they won in prize money, but failed to collect.

The money, mostly Lotto and Cash Pot winnings, was not claimed and was 'sitting idly' in the coffers of Supreme Ventures Limited, THE STAR understands.

Financial statements for the gaming company for the financial year, November 1, 2005 to October 31, 2006, have revealed that the money is for tickets purchased before July 29, 2005.

This means that several players of the games have missed out on their chance to collect any of the money as the 90-day period to claim their prizes, as specified on the back of the ticket, has passed.

Sonia Davidson, vice-president of Corporate Communications at Supreme Ventures, told THE STAR in response to some questions sent to her that approximately 37 per cent ($44.4 million) of the unclaimed sum was from winnings from the Lotto game, 35 per cent ($42 million) from Cash Pot and the remaining 28 per cent ($33.6 million) between Lucky 5, Dollaz and Pick3.

Not collected

The unclaimed money is taxed and then shared between the Culture, Health, Arts, Sports and Education (CHASE) Fund and the other half goes into the Supreme Ventures Limited Unclaimed Fund. Supreme Ventures uses these funds to execute several customer promotions such as jerk festivals.

The number of persons estimated to have not collected the sum is one per cent of the gambling public, but it was unclear as to what per cent of the Jamaican population makes up the gaming public.

Davidson theorised that some persons had not collected the sum from the lottery games because the persons who often buy the tickets do not check about lower-tier prizes if they lose out on the jackpot.

Derrick Peart, executive director of the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Commission told THE STAR that persons may have also missed their opportunities to claim the money because they lost their tickets or they were damaged.

The tickets take 90 days to become void, and according to Peart, on the 91st day it can be declared unclaimed. This is advertised on the back of the tickets and on the company's website.

Davidson also said Supreme made an effort frequently to make the public aware of the winning amounts and where to collect them daily. "As per our gaming licence and standard operating procedures we publish on a daily basis and at all agent locations the winning numbers for the game draws," she said.

In the meantime, Peart said Supreme Ventures is not required by its gaming licence to do anything to alert players of any of the games to the outstanding sum and said this was something solely up to individuals.