Somewhere out there are five tickets that recently won five major jackpots, including one in Philadelphia and another in South Jersey.
It's not surprising that Philadelphia's waiting to find out the identity of the lucky soul who scored a $131.5 million Powerball jackpot. The winning ticket was purchased just 10 days ago at Federal Beer in Point Breeze. The winning numbers: 13, 19, 23, 33 and 57, with Powerball number 28.
After all, lottery winners are often advised to first sign the ticket and then get professional legal and financial advice before staking a claim.
But more than a month has passed with all the other wins, including the $30 million Mega Millions jackpot hit May 31 at the Vineland Truck Stop in Buena, Atlantic County, N.J. The winning numbers: 2, 20, 26, 44, and 46, with Mega Ball number 26.
No word yet about who won, truck stop owner Tony Singh said this morning. No claim yet, emailed New Jersey Lottery spokeswoman Judith Drucker.
Other uncollected jackpots:
The May 25 Powerball jackpot, worth a $50 million annuity, was hit by three tickets, but only the one sold at a Rehoboth Beach, Del., supermarket was cashed in — for about $10.4 million. The winner remained anonymous.
The others were sold in Louisiana and Virginia. The winning numbers: 2, 6, 19, 21 and 27, with Powerball number 25.
A much bigger Mega Millions jackpot, worth $198 million on May 17, had two winners, but only Joe Garofalo of Tinton Falls, N.J., claimed his half.
The other winning ticket was sold in Farmville, Va. The winning numbers were: 11, 15, 35, 43 and 49, with Mega Ball number 41.
The time winners take varies greatly.
One night after an April 2012 Powerball drawing, word was out that four dozen SEPTA workers hit a jackpot with an annuity value of $172.7 million. They split the cash: $107.5 million.
But Pam Nicolo, a teacher from Wyndmoor, took more than three months to claim $46.6 million from a February 2009 Powerball drawing.
It took Joseph T. Jones Jr. two days short of a year — and the expiration date — to realize he'd won $20.8 million in Pennsylvania's Wild Card Lotto in 1992. (See Man overcomes gambling addiction, wins lottery, Lottery Post, July 6, 2013.)
An even longer delay is unfolding in Illinois, because of lawsuits over a ticket that hit a May 4, 2012, Mega Million jackpot worth $118 million. The dispute is over how many people had a stake in an office pool. Some regulars said they should have been included, especially since some previous winnings were allegedly rolled over to purchase the set of tickets that produced the winner.
It's rare for a major jackpot to go unclaimed, but it has happened.
A $77 million Powerball jackpot, hit at a Georgia truck stop in June 2011, was never awarded.
And New York City, amazingly, missed out on three Mega Millions jackpots: $31 million in August 2006, $46 million in April 2003, and $68 million in December 2002. In that last case, a man said he lost the ticket and sued for the winnings, but he also lost in court.
Thanks to tnlotto1 for the tip.
I need the money. I would have claimed the prize by now!
I hope the winners secured their tickets.
I hope the winners don't lose their opportunities to be wealthy. Go cash in your tickets!!!
Thanks for posting the story LP. Yet another reason why LP could be worth MILLIONS to some lottery player who logs on and realizes that the time and location matches their ticket purchase and claims a HUGE prize.
I just hope the money does not revert back to the states because the ticket was never brought in. That makes me so upset. It would never happen to me. I think.
Wow Great Article Todd
There was an 850,000.00 winner in Ky. years ago that was never claimed
About 1 hour and ten mintues from home ( it was some type of cap on the PB years ago ) and extra bonus as more went to the 5 of 5 winners back then whenever that happened.........if I remember correct
It was a 5 of 5 winner
I was by there now and then , so about a year after it happened , I stopped in there and bought a few tickets
I asked the guy that owns the place if that was the place where the 800,000.00 PB ticket was sold that was never claimed
He said yes , but that it was 850,000.00 ( as the newspaper article back then had it wrong on the amount )
Never claimed
As the time period had done passed to claim it , I told the owner it was probably best now that they never knew , and he said I reckon so
Amazing that some people would be lucky enough to win , and for various reasons never claim it
Always makes me wonder what ever happened to them
The tickets I bought there that day............yep............... never hit squat
I would give myself a month or two before l claimed my prize.That is sufficient time to get all my ducks in a row with financial advice & setting up my future on solid ground going forward. One just ends up looking like a fool if they miss tthe deadline and attempt to do battle in court.
The question that can be asked is " why did you wait this long to come forward? "
if for no other reason than learning things the average player doesn't know. Just reading a story like this one might jog the memory of someone who bought tickets for the drawings that forgot to check them.
I'm especially curios about the one that was sold at Vineland truck stop, about 25 miles from me.
hopefully they are just cases of people waiting for the right time to collect
suprised that the one sold in Fl right after the big PB jackpot has not been claimed yet
MINE!
I think sometimes people check their tickets too quickly and may accidentally throw them out. I have had a couple of winning numbers a few times (hot lotto# and one or two other #s) and because I am doing two things at once, I missed them the first time (only saw one number). This is why I save my tickets and check them again later on.
I also checked out the winners office supply store. There is some interesting retro style furniture there.