If you lose a winning ticket or it gets damaged beyond recognition, it becomes void and you can’t claim any prizes with it. Only a few state lotteries have a service that allows players with damaged/lost tickets to try and claim their prizes through a particular process, but it’s not guaranteed that you’ll be able to do so.
Missing out on prize money because of lost or damaged tickets is very unfortunate, so we recommend that you keep all of your tickets in a safe place. In addition, keep in mind that if you play online you don’t need to worry about damaged or lost tickets.