( CNN ) -- The champagne wishes and caviar dreams of the person in Indiana holding April 's winning Powerball ticket will officially remain just those -- wishes and dreams , if not a nightmare -- after failing to claim their $ 1 million prize . Indiana 's 180-day window for lottery winners to come forward came to a close Monday for the unlucky soul who purchased the lucky ticket in the April 10 drawing at the Circle K in Jeffersonville . `` It is rare , but not unheard of , that a prize of such magnitude goes unclaimed , '' Indiana Lottery spokeswoman Stephanie McFarland said . When it comes to `` unclaimed magnitude , '' whoever missed out can at least take solace in the fact they did n't set a record for being the biggest loser among gambling Hoosiers : In 2002 , someone in Indiana missed out on a $ 50 million Powerball jackpot , McFarland said . Absentminded lottery players can provide big boosts for state coffers , because unclaimed prize money is retained by the state . Chuck Strutt of the Multi-State Lottery Association told CNNMoney in a recent article that $ 800 million in lottery winnings went unclaimed nationwide in 2011 . McFarland told CNN that the state makes no special effort -- such as reviewing Circle K 's surveillance tape -- to try to figure out who this , or any other `` winner , '' is . `` If only we had had this conversation the other day -- before the deadline , '' she told CNN . `` Maybe ( the winner ) would have seen the press coverage and been reminded that they had purchased the ticket . '' Sudden lottery fortune sometimes leads to disaster . Unclaimed lottery ticket expires .
Jeffersonville lottery winner becomes loser by not claiming $ 50 million . Winners have 180 days from the drawing to come forward . `` Winner '' failed to claim $ 800 million Powerball jackpot in 2011 . States kept $ 800 million in unclaimed prizes in 2011 .