Most lotteries publish two critical dates about the games they sell: “Closed (or End) date “and “Last Date to claim”
Closed games is an important date to track, but the date thats more important is: “Last Date to claim”. (Sometimes labeled “last date to redeem” or “Claim By”)
When the lotteries mark a game as CLOSED – it means they are no longer distributing that game to retailers, however, if a retailer still has an open pack, they are allowed to continue to sell them.
This is why we leave ‘Closed” games on our reports. If the game has a high smart factor and you can find it, you should play it.
Almost every lottery in the US allows for 6 months to a year to claim a prize.
This gives the lotteries time to collect games and get them out of circulation and allows open packs to be sold off. The rules for ‘selling open packs’ varies from state to state, but because we go by ‘last day to redeem’, we’re safe with leaving these games on our reports. This is also why we report on all games – look for an play the very best games you can find on the report. Just play the green games that you can find.