Woman claims $250,000 just hours before lottery ticket expires

Sep 26, 2009, 8:01 am (21 comments)

Mega Millions

For nearly six months, Lydia Burke of Mechanicsville, Virginia, had a Mega Millions ticket worth $250,000 and she didn't know it.  The ticket sat in a napkin holder in her kitchen.

Then on September 23, she happened to see a news report that a Mega Millions ticket purchased at the 7-Eleven located at 2413 Staples Mill Road in Richmond was about to expire. She remembered buying a ticket at that store, so she checked the ticket in her napkin holder.

"Oh my goodness, when I saw that ticket and saw those numbers, I screamed, 'I got it! I got it!'" she later said.

Ms. Burke and her husband Gregory presented the ticket to Virginia Lottery officials at 9:00 a.m. on September 24 — just eight hours before the ticket would have expired.

According to Virginia Lottery rules, winning tickets expire 180 days after the drawing. Her ticket was for the March 27, 2009, Mega Millions drawing. It matched the first five numbers and only missed the Mega Ball number to win Mega Millions' second prize of $250,000. The winning numbers for that drawing were 10-15-24-38-50 and the Mega Ball number was 19. The ticket was set to expire at 5:00 p.m. on September 24.

Ms. Burke told Lottery officials she and her husband plan to use their winnings to take their first vacation in years.

Thanks to Truesee for the tip.

Lottery Post Staff

Comments

thor's avatarthor

what's the deal with people not checking there tickets after the drawing? this seems far from the norm to me. i check within 24-48 hours and then trash those losers. anyway, my nickel advice.

hearsetrax's avatarhearsetrax

Quote: Originally posted by thor on Sep 26, 2009

what's the deal with people not checking there tickets after the drawing? this seems far from the norm to me. i check within 24-48 hours and then trash those losers. anyway, my nickel advice.

I normally check mine the next morning .......

personally I'd Green laugh if some one had a $250k winner and missed the deadline

ThatScaryChick's avatarThatScaryChick

Well, she was lucky she saw that news report. Otherwise, she would have been out a lot of money. Congrats to her!

RJOh's avatarRJOh

Lydia Burke must have a good memory.  She buys a lottery ticket, doesn't bother to check it and put it aside and forget about it but on seeing the news report about a MegaMillions ticket worth $250K sold at a certain 7-11 store almost 180 days earlier, she remembers buying a ticket at that store about that time and putting it in a napkin holder and it's then she decides to check it. What are the odds that most players would remember where they bought a ticket six months earlier let alone where they placed it?  Congratulation to the winner.

beaudad's avatarbeaudad

she needs to improve that memory.........by tying a string on her finger.......to remind her to check her next ticket she buys.............it might be a winner!!!!!!!(does she put all her tickets in a napkin holder.....there might be other winners there......) does that mean it's been almost 6 months since she cleaned off her table???????

vistaguy

Quote: Originally posted by beaudad on Sep 26, 2009

she needs to improve that memory.........by tying a string on her finger.......to remind her to check her next ticket she buys.............it might be a winner!!!!!!!(does she put all her tickets in a napkin holder.....there might be other winners there......) does that mean it's been almost 6 months since she cleaned off her table???????

Thats what I was thinking. How filthy was her napkin holder and the NAPKINS in it, yuck.

Dollar419's avatarDollar419

I can't understand why the negative, petty comments about her cleaning habits on how and where she stored her ticket.  If she had stored the winning ticket in the bathroom, it is no one's business but her own. We all choose different places to keep our tickets; The bottom line is she found the winning ticket in time to collect it and that is a blessing in itself. 

CONGRATULATIONS TO THIS WINNER AND HER FAMILY--I HOPE SHE ENJOYS HER WELL DESERVED VACATIONDance

jeffrey's avatarjeffrey

Quote: Originally posted by Dollar419 on Sep 27, 2009

I can't understand why the negative, petty comments about her cleaning habits on how and where she stored her ticket.  If she had stored the winning ticket in the bathroom, it is no one's business but her own. We all choose different places to keep our tickets; The bottom line is she found the winning ticket in time to collect it and that is a blessing in itself. 

CONGRATULATIONS TO THIS WINNER AND HER FAMILY--I HOPE SHE ENJOYS HER WELL DESERVED VACATIONDance

I Agree! I think there may be a jealousy factor. I'm just glad she found it. It's hard enough to win. Let's not make it impossible to collect too. Congrats on the win.

HaveABall's avatarHaveABall

Yea, another encouraging story!  I'm given hope again.Disney

BazookaJoe

Quote: Originally posted by beaudad on Sep 26, 2009

she needs to improve that memory.........by tying a string on her finger.......to remind her to check her next ticket she buys.............it might be a winner!!!!!!!(does she put all her tickets in a napkin holder.....there might be other winners there......) does that mean it's been almost 6 months since she cleaned off her table???????

They must be pretty clean eaters, they don't use alot of napkins. LOL

caipiao

Quote: Originally posted by jeffrey on Sep 27, 2009

I Agree! I think there may be a jealousy factor. I'm just glad she found it. It's hard enough to win. Let's not make it impossible to collect too. Congrats on the win.

i feel happy she found it last minute.   but seriously,   even if it's  1 minute late,  you think the lottery is going to deny her the money?   Lots of money  hanging on a  potential difference of mere  minutes,  whether clock strikes past midnight or not

bashley572's avatarbashley572

I just found a $2.00 mega ball winner from 8/14 which was in a pile of Mega #s (jackpost was $146mil) which my girlfriend had sitting off in a corner of the kitchen  Dance

OldSchoolPa's avatarOldSchoolPa

Congrats to her...yes I agree with checking sooner, but some people do lead busy lives that prevent them from checking each ticket right after each drawing.  I worked as an over-the-road driver for the past few years and I could not check my tickets every week (I happened to be a driver who made good money).  I made sure to purchase tickets for EVERY MM and PB drawing even though I also spent upwards of a month out of the country.  Now I will be leaving the US for a year to go serve the country, so I am grateful that Illinois now has Mega Millions subscriptions.  I will just have to have my brother purchase and track my Powerball tickets as it would do me no good to purchase a ticket that turns out to be a winner as I wouldn't be able to claim it within the 180 day timeframe (yeah, if it was a jackpot winner, I would probably be allowed to return to the US to claim it, but if we're talking about a second tier winner, I couldn't see leaving theater to claim it even though it is a nice sum of money). 

So I will hope to win before I go (even if I were to win a jackpot MM/PB drawing, I would still go over and serve my time in XXXX middle eastern country).  And then I will enjoy my winnings when I return stateside.  If only I could be so blessed!

maringoman's avatarmaringoman

I can totally relate to her system of buying tickets and never checking them. After losing so many times I just buy them and keep them on top of the tv. Then after a while I will bring them all to the store to self scan and trash them (I never find winners!Angry).

I also want to say something about the Virginia lottery. Thats one honest lottery commission that they will advertise of an unclaimed ticket. I have yet to see that kind of honesty around where I come from.

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