A 1983 Penny In Your Change Jar Could Be Worth $7,000

Here's another one to look for. This time you'll be combing through your old change jar looking for a 1983 penny with no mint mark. Just like the one in the picture. I found that penny in my desk drawer here in Fort Myers, Florida. But it's not one of the valuable ones. This treasure hunt has 2 parts to it.

A $7,000 payday on a penny is a great win, although not nearly as much as some  1943 and 1944 pennies out there. We've covered those before, click on one of those links if you want to know more. Those are the BIG money pennies.

You have a little better chance of finding one of these 1983 pennies. There's a lot more out there. But as I said, the treasure hunt is two part. First up, go through your old change looking for a 1983 penny with no mint mark. That's the little letter below the date on the front of the penny. It's the code that shows where the penny is made. I actually found a 1983 with no mint mark. On to step 2. We're looking for a 'doubling effect'. According to CNBC,  there's about 5,000 1983 pennies known to have this doubling error. The doubling is on the back of the penny where it says "one cent".

This is what's known as a “doubled die reverse” coin. It's when the stamping machine hits the coin at a slightly different spot. These coins are almost always worth more than regular coins, so anytime you see a 'double die' effect on a coin, take a closer look. The record sale at auction for one of these pennies is $7,050. Is yours worth that much? It always depends on condition. You'll need to get it graded to find out. Finally, I can't stress this enough - find a reputable grader before you try to sell. In the comment section of this video someone remarked that they had one of these coins and the person at the shop only gave them $20 for it. I'm guessing you got scammed, my friend.

Good luck everyone!

Publix is smart. They have you two ways when it comes to Florida Lottery scratch off tickets. First, you go past the lottery counter after check out. Then, you need to walk past that beautiful vending machine as you're heading out the door. Playing these tickets is a lot of fun. There's always new themes, and new games. But as some of the games get older, your odds of winning the big prize can vanish. And if you're looking to win big, those are the Florida Lottery scratch off tickets you may want to avoid.

I'm updating this list because a lot has changed since we did it last. Also, it's because of the holidays. Buying scratch off tickets as gifts is a very common thing, even for people who don't normally play. So why gift a ticket that has no chance of winning big. "Hey you could win a million dollars - but you won't" isn't really a festive thing to do. There's a lot of tickets out there that have a ton of big prizes still available. But 7 of them don't. So, with the help of data provided buy the Florida Lottery, let's take a look at the scratch off tickets where all the big winners are gone.

Many of these tickets still have a lot of secondary prizes available. Just because you can't win 5 million, doesn't mean you can't win 1 million. I do this list because I'm a dreamer. And my dream is always to win big.

Someone here at the station won over $12,000 at the casino playing slots last summer. My first thought was, wow, the jackpot is over $100,000 - so close. She was very happy winning the 12K.  But if you're like me, and have dreams of winning the biggest of prizes, these are the tickets that won't do it for you. All of these stats are as of 11/6/2023.

This was actually a cool little game. A $2 ticket that could win you $100,000.  But all of those big winners are gone. There's still 16 of the $1,000 winners available. It makes sense that the big winners are gone from this ticket as it's at the end of it's life. End Date: December 01, 2023. So even though it has a bit of a Christmas feel to this ticket, it's probably not your best choice for a gift.

Here's another ticket that's nearing the end of it's life, with a December 1 end date. This $50 ticket definitely made some headlines with it's $25 million dollar grand prize. But those tickets are gone. And of the 160 $1 million dollar winning tickets, there's only 4 of those left.

This ticket has been out for over a year and I really don't recall ever seeing it at the counter. It's a $5 ticket that could have scored you $500,000. But all of those top prizes have been paid out. There's a few $10,000 winning tickets left - still not bad for a $5 ticket.

A $2 ticket with a $100,000 top prize. And everybody loves Monopoly, right? Unfortunately, those are all gone. There's a series of Monopoly Doubler tickets out there and all the other ones have top prizes still available. Just not the $2 one.

The "Week For Life" tickets are very popular, but this one has already been tapped. There's 8 people out there already collecting the grand prize, and that's it for that. You could still win $10 grand, which isn't too shabby.

I'm still intrigued by the $30 card. It's like the $20 cards aren't enough, but you're not ready for the $50 cards just yet. But this ticket has been played hard. All 4 of the $15 million, and all 24 of the $1 million winners are gone. There's still 1 of the 20 $100,000 winning tickets left.

I admire anyone who plays these crossword style tickets. I'm always afraid I'm going to mess up, win big, and not even know it. The last time I had one, I took it to Publix and scanned the ticket to see if it won. Just in case. This $20 ticket had 8 big winners of the $5 million dollar prize, but all of those have been claimed. One of the 24 $1 million dollar winning tickets is still out there.

Since we've covered the tickets that have no big winners left, what about the ones that haven't hit yet? The tickets where none of the top prizes have been claimed. Do they exist? Yes they do. I can't say for sure that no one has bought one of these tickets yet, it's just that none of them have been claimed. Sometimes when people win millions, they consult a lawyer and tax planner before they go to the lottery office.

There are 4 tickets that show all the big winners are still out there. Here they are.

This is the $5 version of the Triple Match series that just came out at the end of October. All 6 of the $1 million dollar winning tickets are still out there. And if you're thinking "this ticket just came out last week, there's no way any of the big winners have been sent out." Well, that'd be wrong.

There's a $10 version of this game with a $2 million dollar grand prize that's already had one claimed. That ticket hit stores on October 30th, and by November 3rd someone had already claimed a 2 million dollar prize. The winning ticket was sold at a liquor store in Graceville, Florida. With a population of 2,278 there's no way this person is gonna stay anonymous. 

The $2 version of the Triple Match series. There's 6 $50,000 winners, and all of them are out there. There's also a $1 version of this game that's already had 2 big winners hit last week. One in Miramar, and one in Apopka. Each of those scored 10 grand.

The $20 version of this game, with a fairly hefty $5 million dollar grand prize. There's 8 of those. These Triple Match games must be very popular, this one has already had 2 people claim the $1 million dollar secondary prize. One hit in Chipley at a Tom Thumb Store. The other in Melbourne at a 7-11. As I said, these Triple Match tickets are only a week old and are already paying out.

I've been talking about this game for awhile now. This ticket came out back in February with a grand prize of a million dollars a year for life. There's 2 of those grand prize tickets out there and neither have been claimed. This ticket even has a second chance contest, per the Florida Lottery website "Enter your non-winning YEAR FOR LIFE ($1, $2, $5, $10, and $50) Scratch-Off tickets into the FREE RIDE & FUEL FOR LIFE BONUS PLAY where 10 lucky winners will win free fuel for a year and a new Ford vehicle!"

There's been a lot of $1 million dollar winners on this ticket, including Joan in Cape Coral - but the dream of winning a million dollars a year for life is still out there.