Salem NH -Do you have a bunch of lottery tickets over the visor in your car? Are they piled high on your bureau? Have you cleaned out that "junk" drawer lately?

This message is especially important for any lottery player who may have purchased a Powerball ticket at "First in NH" store on South Broadway in Salem last January. That unclaimed ticket is worth $10,000…but not for much longer.

"According to lottery rules, any unclaimed winning Powerball tickets expire a year after the draw date," said Executive Director Rick Wisler. "We’re hoping that whoever bought the ticket for the drawing on January 28 of last year still has it and just isn’t aware that it’s a winner."

The winning ticket matched four of the five numbers (5-18-23-32) and matched the Powerball number of 4. The store was called "M & N Border Store" when that ticket was purchased approximately a year ago, but it now is known as "First in NH." Any player unsure if their ticket is a winner can bring it to any of the 1,200 NH Lottery retailers, where it can be checked by the retailer’s lottery terminal. However, as the value of this particular ticket exceeds $599, the winner must claim their prize at Lottery Headquarters in Concord. The deadline to claim this winning ticket is by the close of the lottery’s sales office which is 4 PM on January 28, 2010.

Since 1964, the New Hampshire Lottery has had a significant financial impact on the state. For the past 45 years, the New Hampshire Lottery has recorded $4.1 billion in lottery sales and other earnings, with $2.7 billion being paid in prizes and other cost of sales. Net proceeds to education to date total more than $1.3 billion.

The New Hampshire Lottery Commission, located at 14 Integra Drive in Concord, currently manages all lottery operations in the state, including Instant games, New Hampshire POWERBALL®, Tri-State Megabucks Plus®, Tri-State Weekly Grand®, Hot Lotto Sizzler®, and Tri-State Pick3/Pick4 Daily Numbers® games. Starting January 31st, the New Hampshire Lottery will also offer Mega Millions® with Megaplier®.