A losing bet will never win in any form of gambling.

A bad toss of the dice will forfeit all of the money at a craps table. An inferior poker hand will never trump a better hand when the cards are exposed.

Losing is terminal. But in a very sick and twisted world, the winners don't always win — because they mistakenly think that their bets were losers.

You see it happen all the time, and when it does, it can be an embarrassing situation.

One of the most common areas where people give away free money lies in the state and national lottery systems. In very rare instances, jackpot winners have left millions unclaimed after failing to appear at the required lottery offices before a set deadline.

The largest forfeited prize on record came in 2002, when a jackpot of $51.7 million hit in Indiana went unclaimed. In 2005, nobody stepped up to claim a $14 million winner in an Illinois lottery.

Ouch.

A possible explanation is that the winner died of heart failure after seeing the numbers roll off. The more likely explanation is that the winner didn't even bother to check the ticket.

Less-publicized lottery throwaways come in the form of non-jackpot prizes. There is a lot of money to be won on tickets that hit many of the numbers. Some tickets will redeem free future tickets, while others produce cash winners scaled to the number of balls matched.

For example, the nation's largest lottery system, “Powerball,” pays winners $3 for matching the Powerball and can increase all the way up to $200,000 prizes without a jackpot.

Most lottery agencies give winners one calendar year to claim their prizes. Sports tickets offer a similar example of self-inflicted stupidity. All sports bets are verified with tickets from the casino that can be exchanged back for cash if the bet is a winner.

These tickets, just like any personal check, become void after a set number of days. Most casinos offer 30 days to do this, and winners can present the casino the ticket in person or claim it through the mail.

In poker, it's not uncommon to see players with the winning hands throw their cards back to the dealer facedown when asked to show their cards. This action is a forfeiture of the hand and automatically gives an opponent the pot regardless of their cards.

Simply take your time with the cards and show them when the dealer asks to see them.
There's nothing worse than taking a winning situation voluntarily turned into a loser.

Chuck Blount | 210SA Contributor