Pennsylvania winner says ticket shoved in shoebox for nearly a year
CUMBERLAND COUNTY, Pa. — A winning Powerball lottery ticket worth $400,000 sold in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, last year was set to expire today.
But just hours before the deadline, Lottery officials announced that a winner came forward.
Two weeks ago Pennsylvania Lottery officials started asking players to check their old tickets.
Pennsylvania Lottery officials announced that the winner is Brenda Stover, of New Cumberland, who validated her winning ticket this morning.
Winning ticket stuffed in old shoebox
On May 28, 2008, Stover bought the ticket at the Karns grocery store in Mechanicsburg. Two weeks ago, Stover's husband saw on the news that there was an unclaimed prize. So, Brenda checked her shoebox of old tickets.
One of them matched all five of the first five Powerball winning numbers, but not the Powerball — which qualified it as the winning ticket of second prize.
Stover took the ticket to a lottery retailer on May 22, where they confirmed it was the $400,000 winning ticket. The ticket was mailed to lottery headquarters in Middletown where officials confirmed Stover as the winner.
"We just encourage players to please check your tickets," said Ed Trees, a Pennsylvania Lottery representative. "The lottery certainly does not want any prize, especially a prize of this size, to go unclaimed."
So far, Stover is not doing interviews and she chose not to do a public check presentation. It is still unclear why her ticket was stuffed in an old shoebox for a year.
I don't get some people. If you were going to buy a lottery ticket,you better go check the numbers within a week,so you don't forget about the ticket and in my case,I would be thinking about the drawn numbers all day. Since,I would be anxious about if I won or not.
Congratulations to her. I'm glad she found it in time.
Lucky it wasn't a leap year.
If I ever get a big win in the lottery I would never send my winning ticket in the mail. What would have happend if that ticket Brenda sent in was lost ?. I could only guess. The lottery headquarters denies Brenda her winning ticket or Brenda must wait one year to claim the lottery money . When I win the big one, I'm going right to the lottery headquarters and claim my win.
Congratulations
My workplace is two blocks over from this town. Trust me its not surprising that someone living there would forget or toss it to the side. They are more dedicated to other matters then winning a lottery. Rather simple folks that reside there.
The most pertubing part was the FACT she let them mail it. THe Lottery headquarters is literally a 15 minute drive over the freeway !
Seriously now, if ya win 400K you can at least spend two bucks in gas to get you to the claims office....I would have even offered just so she could be sure it got there in time. And NO I wouldnt want a dime of her winnings for the gesture. Just the pleasure of interviewing someone that won that much would be a hoot!
"The ticket was mailed to lottery headquarters in Middletown where officials confirmed Stover as the winner."
I'm speechless.
They had a $200K ticket that wasn't claimed today in Kentucky
across from Cincinnati in Covington.
It had to be claimed by 5pm today.
I can't understand people that buy lottery tickets and just throw them in a drawer or worse an old shoebox
....I can't wait to see if I won!
I check my tickets as soon as the results are posted. Some people are just different they play for the heck of it, buy a ticket and dont bother to check it because they dont think they would ever win anything but at the same time they spend the money anyway.
Nothing wrong with that if some people are that way cause when I win I will appreciate those careless people for their contribution.
I'm the type that I check my tickets and if I win I want the money NOW!!! LOL
I try to watch the televised drawing if I can.If I can't watch the live drawing,I check the USA MEGA website to see if I won.Sometimes I do both just to make sure the live drawing got it right.
I always check my tickets hours after the draw or somtimes the day after but never any later.
Procrastinator
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