Florida Lottery: Lotto dream turns to dustSome unlucky winner bought a Florida Lotto ticket worth $50 million in March, but lost his or her chance to cash it when the clock struck 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday.
The chance to claim the $50 million prize expired six months after the drawing March 12. Although previous Lotto prizes have gone unclaimed, this is the largest ever in the 15-year history of the Florida Lottery.
The last big one was $15 million in 1991.
Theories abound about why someone would let that kind of money go, but the prevalent one is that someone on vacation bought the ticket, a Quick Pick, on an impulse and never checked the winning numbers. For the record, they were 22-23-35-45-50-53.
"Clearly this is not a regular Lotto player," said Florida Lottery spokeswoman Sheila Griffin. "We think it was a one-time purchase, probably put away in the suitcase or discarded."
William Castillo, a regular at Kohls Food Market, the convenience store on the edge of Miami Beach where the ticket was sold, stopped in Tuesday afternoon for a six pack of beer. He thinks whoever won had to be from out of town.
"If someone from Miami would've won, they would've been here," Castillo said. "Imagine, $50 million."
Castillo buys Lotto tickets at the store all the time. When he and his wife heard the news Monday night that a jackpot was expiring, his wife ran down to the store at 11:30 p.m. with a batch of tickets she bought in March.
None were winners, but Castillo is still hoping it will be him one day.
"This store is lucky," he said.
No kidding. Owner Hasan Bayezid said his market has sold winning Fantasy 5 and Cash 3 tickets before. Bayezid has himself won Fantasy 5 twice, once for $32,000 and once for $84,000. And even though the $50 million is returning to the coffers of the Florida Lottery, Bayezid's store has received its $10,000 bonus for selling the ticket.
"We've already enjoyed the money," said Bayezid, who lives in Davie.
Lotto winners have 180 days to claim their prizes. Since the game started in 1988, 20 jackpots have now gone unclaimed.
The proceeds from the winning ticket will go back into a pool of money that the Florida Lottery will use for future prizes and special promotions, Griffin said.
What would happen if the winner dventually finds the lost ticket?
"The law says 180 days," Griffin said. "It would be very sad. I don't even want to think about it."
