The lucky — and still unknown — winner of Wednesday's $93.4 million Powerball jackpot bought the winning ticket in the Albuquerque area, the New Mexico Lottery revealed Friday.
The lottery would say only that the ticket was sold at one of about 400 area retailers. When lottery headquarters in Albuquerque locked its doors for the weekend at 4:30 p.m. Friday, the winner or winners of the $1-a-pop game played around the nation had not been in to claim the prize.
The winning ticket must be presented at lottery headquarters. The next chance to do so will be Monday morning.
"I'm guessing ... right now they're doing one of two things," lottery chief executive officer Tom Shaheen speculated Friday: The winner or winners have either taken the lottery's advice and sought financial guidance, or they simply don't know yet that they've become extraordinarily — and instantly — rich.
"A lot of people take their tickets and put them in a drawer," Shaheen said.
So pull those tickets out of the drawer and look for numbers 13, 31, 36, 38, 49 and a red Powerball with the number 2.
Although the two prior New Mexico winners of Powerball jackpots claimed their megabucks promptly, winners elsewhere frequently wait weeks or even months before coming forward, lottery spokesman Lance Ross said.
While the New Mexico Lottery has set a 90-day expiration date for all winning tickets sold in this state, some other states that are part of Powerball have expiration dates of up to a full year, Ross said.
Even in the states with longer deadlines, "there are people who have waited until the very last day," Ross said.
The lottery is not specifying what date or time the lucky ticket was sold, or releasing which lottery retailer sold it. Shaheen said scam artists can use such specifics to try to make false claims.
If the lottery were to release the name of the retailer before the winner came forward, Shaheen added, the retailer would likely be bombarded with customers asking the retailer to check their tickets — just in case.
Powerball is offered in 27 states as well as the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The game began in the early 1990s; New Mexico joined Powerball in 1996, the same year the lottery was formed in this state.
Powerball has had one unclaimed jackpot in its history: a ticket sold in 2002 in Indiana worth about $51.2 million went unredeemed.
If that were to happen with Wednesday's prize, all state lotteries that take part in Powerball would get the amount of ticket money they kicked into the jackpot, Shaheen said.
Each state to their own; but ninety day expiration deadline for ticket submission seems a little on the short side. I'd prefer giving prize recipients at least six months to claim their winnings with a full year being even better.
It had only been 2 business days. You can't expect a person to go out and claim something as important as that the day after the drawing. They have to hire financial advisors, lawyers, accountants, all that. This is really a non-story.
Likely as not it's some man and wife in the South Valley huddled in a dark room, her poring over an old Freiden calculator, him running long tapes on a Victor trying to figure out whether they can break even if they claim the prize, or whether they'll be better off just using the ticket to roll into a joint and forget the whole thing as a bad investment.
Maybe they rhyme, these folks, in some ways with the young woman I told about in another thread a while back who won several thousand dollars on a slot machine in Sandia Casino. She had reasons not to want to have to answer a lot of questions, so she headed for the door at a dead run.
Or maybe they just figure they should have waited until the jackpot was bigger before they bought their tickets, so's to end up with the amount of money they'd been figuring on. Maybe now they know they have to wait until it gets up to close to half a billion bucks to see the $93 million they read about on the billboards when they bought the ticket, free and clear.
Jack
It had only been 2 business days. You can't expect a person to go out and claim something as important as that the day after the drawing. They have to hire financial advisors, lawyers, accountants, all that. This is really a non-story.
True, really. It might well be a tourist, a trucker, an itenerent who's now off in East Jesus, MO. Doesn't realize he's got a winning ticket under that package of brochures, waybills, trip-logs and maps in the passenger seat.
I had a PM from a NM Lottery Authority a while back mentioning that the news media doesn't cover these mediocre wins much anymore. Maybe they've raised the lowest common denominator of what constitutes a jackpot worth covering based on lump sum payments instead of annuity payments.
Maybe the winner doesn't know. Maybe he/she bought the ticket on a whim and has even forgotten buying it.
Not everyone's as preoccupied with keeping track of their tickets and checking them as we are here on LP.
Jack
Is New Mexico anal about all this or is it just my imagination. Why not tell which retailer? Why do they need to call ahead and give general ticket info to the lottery? 2 non-stories so far on a winner that will come forward in due time. Geez...what if they don't care if they get their check THAT day they walk in unexpected because they don't want all the media hoopla, will this Tom Shaheen send them away and say, "Sorry, you have to make an appointment so we can get the media together so we can milk this for all we can, and the verification process will take too long." He sounds pretty arrogant.
Is New Mexico anal about all this or is it just my imagination. Why not tell which retailer? Why do they need to call ahead and give general ticket info to the lottery? 2 non-stories so far on a winner that will come forward in due time. Geez...what if they don't care if they get their check THAT day they walk in unexpected because they don't want all the media hoopla, will this Tom Shaheen send them away and say, "Sorry, you have to make an appointment so we can get the media together so we can milk this for all we can, and the verification process will take too long." He sounds pretty arrogant.
New Mexicans are hampered in their appreciation for what a non-event this is for a couple of reasons.
First, they still think the word 'anal' refers to a body-orifice that doesn't get a lot of attention in polite society outside the privacy of a porcelain fixture and a scroll of paper too thin to be of much service as a writing pad.
Second, the lottery officials want to get as much mileage in the news about a NM winner as they possibly can so's to keep those poor and under-educated New Mexicans buying tickets. By getting their faces on TV and into the newspapers in any context, they're reminding New Mexicans there's a lottery, that it occasionally pays off some dollar amount, and that they ought to rush out and buy a piece of the action.
Third, arrogance tends to be a trait we have here in New Mexico, mainly manifested in the fact that when we think anal, a different term is used and it's focused on a particular individual who behaves in some way we wish was otherwise.
I think it's just your imagination.
Jack
"If the lottery were to release the name of the retailer before the winner came forward, Shaheen added, the retailer would likely be bombarded with customers asking the retailer to check their tickets — just in case."
Maybe some of those customers would go and buy another ticket once they got there.
Some New Mexico lottery person with 1 post just emailed me and let me know I was out of place. Sorry and meant to offend no one, especially you, writerross, who emailed me. I have publicly apologized, but still don't understand why they need to call in and give ticket info, or why the retailer is not released. Just an opinion, OK?
I GOT THE WINNING TICKET. YEAH I WAS PASSING THROUGH ON MY BIG RIG AND I PICKED IT UP IN ALBUQUERQUE OR MAYBE THAT WAS SANTA FE. I CAN'T REMEMBER ANYTHING THESE DAYS AFTER BOUNCING DOWN THE ROAD FOR SO LONG. DON'T TELL ANYONE BECAUSE I WANT TO HAVE MY PRIVACY WHEN I COLLECT THE MONEY.
Some New Mexico lottery person with 1 post just emailed me and let me know I was out of place. Sorry and meant to offend no one, especially you, writerross, who emailed me. I have publicly apologized, but still don't understand why they need to call in and give ticket info, or why the retailer is not released. Just an opinion, OK?
Nothing to apologize for, Littlemanjen.
We New Mexicans are about like everyone else in that we all have opinions about how other people ought to deal with things, including winning a lottery. If they have a procedure over there at the Lottery Authority office, a person's going to need to follow it to collect. Doesn't matter why.
As to the anal part of your post, if you think we're that way you mightn't be far wrong. A lot of us have been called something of that nature occasionally, and I like to think we've earned it. Probably some of our residents over in the Lottery Authority offices can even claim part of the title.
The same might be true of the population where you are. Maybe, even you, individually. If so, I hope you've tried as hard to earn the moniker as I have over the years.
I agree with you that I don't understand why they don't release the location where the ticket was sold. Seems to me that would help remind the people who bought tickets there to go back and double check.
But maybe, for reasons of their own, they'd as soon nobody claimed the prize.
Jack
I GOT THE WINNING TICKET. YEAH I WAS PASSING THROUGH ON MY BIG RIG AND I PICKED IT UP IN ALBUQUERQUE OR MAYBE THAT WAS SANTA FE. I CAN'T REMEMBER ANYTHING THESE DAYS AFTER BOUNCING DOWN THE ROAD FOR SO LONG. DON'T TELL ANYONE BECAUSE I WANT TO HAVE MY PRIVACY WHEN I COLLECT THE MONEY.
Congratulations, if it's true.
You surely do use a big font, podner.
Jack
Each state to their own; but ninety day expiration deadline for ticket submission seems a little on the short side. I'd prefer giving prize recipients at least six months to claim their winnings with a full year being even better.
Lottery officials and State government folks probably aren't a lot different from the rest of us in that regard.
After a couple of weeks of an unclaimed prize sitting around they probably begin spending the money in their heads, planning all the new raises they're going to give themselves, new State vehicles, all manner of things that depend on the person not coming forward to claim the jackpot.
There's also the point to be made that it's the responsibility of ticket holders to claim it within the given time, whether it's a week, three months, or six months. If he/she misses the deadline there's only himself/herself to blame.
I'm sort of hoping the winner holds out until the last minute, keeps mum, lets them make all their big plans for the little piece of the pie they were going to let him keep, then pops it on them the last day.
But I'm sort of an anal kind of person. I tend to think the citizenry does best by swimming cross-current and upstream as much as they can in this life.
Jack
You crack me up Rip. I agree with you, with 90 days, maybe they don't want anyone to claim it each time, which is why no publicity for the retailer. If someone didn't claim it and I was the retailer that sold it and could not advertise for people to check their tickets closely, I'd be very upset aqnd talking to a lawyer. Makes total sense. And, Writerross, I don't need an email with regards to this comment, LOL.
I GOT THE WINNING TICKET. YEAH I WAS PASSING THROUGH ON MY BIG RIG AND I PICKED IT UP IN ALBUQUERQUE OR MAYBE THAT WAS SANTA FE. I CAN'T REMEMBER ANYTHING THESE DAYS AFTER BOUNCING DOWN THE ROAD FOR SO LONG. DON'T TELL ANYONE BECAUSE I WANT TO HAVE MY PRIVACY WHEN I COLLECT THE MONEY.
Congratulations, if it's true.
You surely do use a big font, podner.
Jack
man where is the that ticket at again. i have to find that ticket.