It is amazing how careless people are with their money.   It would be devastating to find out that I had one of those tickets.

They're not lost, but cali. hopes they are.

Wow, calm down lottery officials. They have four months left to claim, right? Which means they still have some time left to make sure they do things right. It may not be millions upon millions but it is a large amount of money and they may want to make sure they have everything in order to collect.

Hold off on the "they'll never be turned in" talk until there's less than a week left.

Lost, misplaced, went through the wash cycle, fido ate it, thrown away? OR:

Sitting in a safe, underneath a mattress, in the freezer, in hand's of trusted attorney or family member?

Any amount of money that would allow me to pay bills, buy groceries, medicine, a six pack, a tube of lipstick, a pair of shoes, and fill up the gas tank, is a life changing amount of money....I'd be able to breathe again.

I agree mrylndw.  In CA they don't pay state tax on lottery, so that would be around $150K after taxes.  That would definitely be life changing for me too.  Remodeling the house so every thing works would be a huge stress relief.  And there would still be some left to put away for when I need a new car or water heater/furnace/whatever.

it is a relatively paltry amount of money for anyone to be worried about being harrassed or having to consult lawyers or money managers. this is just some dumbass who misplaced the tickets. they don't even probably know they had the winning combo's, so no one is fretting over it that's for sure.

Nice mix of views here. I believe it could go either way in terms of possibilities but, suggesting that both tickets are simply lost is very unlikely. This Traverso guy kinda rubs me the wrong way with his attitude towards the sum of money in question. "It's a nice prize but, it's not life changing." REALLY? Just who the hell is he to decide what amount of money can change/alter anyone's personal situation. $200K+ is a good bit of money to pay a house off, car, student loans, kid's tuition, etc. etc...and these are life changing accomplishments. FWIW, I've seen where people have been harrassed for winning less money than this...$100K less. 

Most of all, I saved the best for last. His comment was definitely not good for business...he's an arrogant dumba**!! Why? It's almost like he's knocking the prize of matching 5 of 5!!! Not many people get this lucky. He should've acted very excited, at the least, even if he really wasn't, in an effort to try and promote more sales. If I was his boss, I would've jumped dead in his a** after hearing such a comment.

L.L.

Will a State still collect the taxes if a ticket is unclaimed. I'm guessing their the ones that want the winners to come foward.

I agree although with a milder overtone.

I err on the side of caution with any claims, there are millions of reasons for the delay in claims. To speculate that its a "GIVEN" that the tickets are "Lost" is purely jumping the gun. They are simply playing mind games trying to draw the winner forward....

And YES I would definitely say that 225k is Life changing....I have 225 thousand ways to change my familys' life with it! :P

Probably a couple of CA Moonbeans that do not want to have more than their fair share of money, ROTFLOLing!

I know, really. With the amount of debt some can have (student loans, mortgages, vehicle, credit cards and then anything they may be behind on like simple bills for gas, power, cable or phone) a win like this can make all of those disappear and still have some change left over. Instead of fighting their debt most of their life they'll be able to actually enjoy it. I'd call that life changing.

, ttech10.  After paying off apx. 31% U.S.A. Federal Income Tax (including or excluding donations/etc.), paying off past utilities, past education, and/or other debts, winner is in a good position.  Afterwards, a purposely 'medium spending' person could have at least 1 year of "breathing room' if currently unemployed (and finding high enough paying work within 12 months), due to this tidy lottery win!