At every home MSU football game, along with men's and women’s basketball and hockey contests, the MSU Athletic Department, in coordination with MSUFCU, holds the 50/50 raffle. Visitors to the game may enter for a chance to win 50 percent of the pot, with the other 50 percent going to the MSU Athletic Department.

At the Oregon and Central Michigan games, the winners of this promotion never claimed their prize. Winners have 60 days after the date of the game in which to claim their prizes, which means that both prizes are now officially turned over to the MSU Athletic Department.

The raffle was particularly popular at the Oregon game, the 2015 season’s only night contest. It garnered over $60,000 from fans at that game, meaning the unclaimed prize totaled over $30,000, according to the Lansing State Journal. The unclaimed prize from the CMU game was just over $25,000.

The Oregon game was the first time in the three-year history of the 50/50 raffle program that a football prize went unclaimed, MSU Athletic Department Assistant Director of Sales and Marketing Megan Hall said. In previous years, one prize from each of the other three sports had gone unclaimed, but every football prize was collected up until this season.

The 50/50 raffle falls under the jurisdiction of the Michigan Lottery, Hall said. Per state regulations, the MSU Athletic Department must work with the Michigan Lottery to donate the unclaimed 50/50 money from both games to charity. The two groups work in tandem to determine where the money will go.