Two days after American Pharaoh became the first horse to win the Triple Crown in thirty-seven years, more than 95% of the $2 winning tickets have yet to be cashed. According to the Associated Press, 90,237 of the 94,128 two dollar wagers placed at Belmont and Aqueduct Saturday remained unredeemed Monday evening, June 8. Because the horse was such a heavy favorite, the window value of a $2 ticket was only $3.50, so many fans decided to keep the winning ticket as a souvenir. An article on an ESPN site says bettors left behind a total of $315,829 from uncashed tickets of various amounts.
Another possibility, however, is that some people think there is money to be made selling their winning tickets to collectors. So, I went to eBay, and sure enough, there were pages of ticket offers to choose from. I only looked at the first page, but I found a site offering to sell a $2 ticket for $20 that claimed to have sold 389 at that price by 11:15 pm Monday night when I checked. There were also many sites auctioning off tickets that had no bids yet.
More interesting was a $2 win ticket from each of the Triple Crown Races - the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, and the Belmont - for $399.90 buy it now and one from another seller for $324.99. Also someone was offering an American Pharaoh $37 trifecta for $950 or best offer. One enterprising seller suggested that next Sunday is Father’s Day, and a ticket would make the perfect gift. There were 26 people watching a site with a race trifecta for $999.99, buy it now. No one was buying yet, and somehow I doubt if anyone will. There was also a packet of 500 winning $2 tickets offered for $14,999.
Of course our ebay entrepreneurs have until March 31, 2016 to cash their tickets if nobody bids. After that the unclaimed money is pooled and goes back to New York State.
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