Clean clothes but a multi-million dollar mistake
By Kate Northrop
An unnamed woman who bought a California Lottery SuperLotto Plus ticket worth a whopping $26 million almost six months ago admitted that she accidentally laundered it immediately after buying it and stuffing it in her pocket.
The woman purchased the ticket at the ARCO am/pm convenience store on East Imperial Highway in Norwalk for a SuperLotto Plus drawing that took place on Nov. 14, 2020 before entirely ruining her chances at winning.
The manager at the store the winning ticket was purchased from, who only goes by Frank, told KTLA that they reviewed the store's surveillance video footage to identify the woman who bought the ticket.
Frank recognized the unofficial winner as a regular customer and described her as being in her 40s. She reportedly went to the store on Wednesday and told Frank that she held the winning ticket but had accidentally left the valuable slip in her pocket when she did her laundry.
Although the surveillance video footage was handed over to the Lottery, it was not enough evidence to officially substantiate a win or ticket purchase. According to the California Lottery, a winner must present their ticket to file a claim, or should a player lose their ticket, they must be able to provide hard proof that they owned it in the first place, like a photo of the front and back of the ticket.
The claim period for the drawing ended at 5:00 pm PST on Thursday. Since no one claimed the $26 million jackpot, the cash value prize of $19.7 million was transferred to public education. Prior to the deadline, the Lottery encouraged players to double-check their tickets if they played SuperLotto Plus on Nov. 14, 2020. Players have 180 days from the draw date to collect SuperLotto Plus prizes.
The winning numbers for the SuperLotto Plus drawing on Nov. 14, 2020 were 12, 13, 23, 31, and 36, with Mega Ball number 10.
Although the mystery winner was left empty-handed, the ARCO am/pm convenience store lucked out and received a $130,000 commission for selling the ticket.
If that ain't an "Oh Fudge" moment, I don't know what is.
Never washed a ticket, but have left some in jacket pockets before.
Now that warmer weather is upon us, make sure you don't leave lottery tickets somewhere where they might get hot and destroy the ticket(s)!
Kind of groggy from my nap, so will Todd or someone please refresh my memory. Wasn't there a time where California paid out a lottery win a couple of years ago with no ticket??? Maybe they copied ticket from and back, IDR!
If only washing machines were as kind to lottery tickets as they are to paper money...
Oh well, she lives in California, it should be super easy to just win again.
Literally washed her dreams away! What a shame!
Are you another who believes in that lucky state fantasy or that is it fixed for a certain state all the time. It wouldn't be because they sell 20 times more tickets than your state or would it. It does not matter what state you are in. All that matters is if you have the correct numbers nothing else.
"they reviewed the store's surveillance video footage to identify the woman who bought the ticket."
And why jackpot winners are never 100% anonymous.
The Universe said it wasn't her time
What a costly mistake. Gonna think about that for the rest of her life.
According to the California Lottery, a winner must present their ticket to file a claim, or should a player lose their ticket, they must be able to provide hard proof that they owned it in the first place, like a photo of the front and back of the ticket.
The winner should always be required to present the ticket in order to file a claim. Anyone could have stolen a digital copy of the photo and acted as a legitimate claimant.
Sorry for her loss!
The store owner is getting a nice check!
Even if they have a digital copy of the photo, that isn't enough on its own to make a successful claim. They will look at CCTV and banking records to check that the person was in the shop at the right time and made a purchase (maybe of just the ticket, maybe a purchase worth at least the price of the ticket.
"BUMMER"
The store should give some of their prize money to her in light of her misgivings. After all they would have got Dudley squat had she not played there. Boy did her luck take a nose dive!!
Mega Millions jumped to $475 million!!
you dont have the tic too bad dum story
I pray she Win again!!!! And keep her ticket in a box or safe!!!
I read a story similar to this several years ago. A guy had a set of Mega Millions numbers he played on a regular basis for years. For whatever reason he missed playing his number for a drawing and the numbers came out. The man's son said his father was devastated and was never able to get over it and now has mental problems
515 million and not a word from Head Dishwasher
Yikes, even a bottle of wine and Pink Floyd can't fix this one.
"Never washed a ticket"
I washed at least one, perhaps a couple of years ago. It was in my wallet that I hadn't taken out of my pants pocket. I can say with a fair amount of certainty that if oyu're going to wash a lottery ticket you should do it while it's in a wallet. Mine might have been a bit less flexible afterwards, but other than that it was fine.
I wonder if the store owner will feel sorry for her and will instruct the employees to give her free coffee for life?
I would become despondent if in her shoes.
Wasn't there a Canadian incident where someone misplaced their ticket and the surveillance video was used to give her the win? I would take this case. Video surveillance does not lie and assuming there was a minute and second time stamp, it should match up...unless everyone was buying lottery tickets just before and after her. It seems a bit archaic .
I really would like to know more details here. Rules are made to be broken in certain instances. Video evidence can be used to send someone to prison but not to confirm an ID for a lottery ticket? ??
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