Only one ticket claimed, both purchased at the same retailer
By Kate Northrop
A lottery ticket bought in California is eligible to claim half of a $395 million Mega Millions jackpot, but only for one more day.
Two tickets — purchased at the same California retailer — split a $395 million Mega Millions jackpot, but one of them only has one day left before it expires.
On Dec. 8, 2023, two lottery tickets won the $395 million Mega Millions jackpot. Both winning tickets were bought at the same retailer: the Chevron gas station on Ventura Boulevard in Encino.
One of the ticketholders, F. Lahijani, came forward to collect his $197.5 million share of the prize, but the other ticket has not been validated. Lottery players in California have one year from the draw date to collect prizes, and that date is just around the corner.
If the winner does not come forward by Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024, then the remaining, unclaimed other half of the $395 million Mega Millions jackpot will expire.
"We have no way of knowing who has the second jackpot-winning ticket from that incredible night," California Lottery Deputy Director of Public Affairs and Communication Carolyn Becker said in a press release. "While it's a shame for potential winners to see any winning ticket expire, it does give a helpful boost to California public schools. All unclaimed prize money winds up helping support public education, so we can still feel good about it at the end of the day."
The ticket matched all five white ball numbers plus the Mega Ball number to win the jackpot on Dec. 8, 2023. They were 21, 26, 53, 66, and 70, with Mega Ball number 13.
Whoever might still possess the missing ticket can either bring it to one of the Lottery's nine offices across the state, or mail the winning ticket and a corresponding claim form to California Lottery headquarters. For the latter option, it must be postmarked on or before Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024.
The Lottery advises players mailing in their claim package to do so via certified mail and to save a copy of every item submitted. The mailing address for submitting mail-in claims is California Lottery Headquarters, 730 North 10th Street, Sacramento, CA 95811.
The next Mega Millions drawing will take place on Friday, Dec. 6 at 11:00 p.m. EST for a jackpot of $579 million. The Powerball jackpot is currently sitting at $260 million for the drawing on Saturday, Dec. 7 at 10:59 p.m. EST.
Mega Millions is currently offered for sale in 45 states, plus Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings are Tuesdays and Fridays at 11:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Tickets cost $2 each.
The Mega Millions winning numbers are published at USA Mega (www.usamega.com) minutes after the drawing takes place.
Any unclaimed proceedings should go to the other jackpot ticket.
Totally agree bc the other winner was too careless.
Unclaimed jackpot tickets happens way too often. For all of the millions of players that take it serious/ and safeguard their tickets, there's the careless player who not only beats the odds/ wins/ loses the ticket.
Tony, I have to agree with you 100%....Here is yet another story of not taking care of a legal document giving someone(s) ownership to 10's of millions of dollars. From Ohio to CA. I get amazed at why folks don't take better care of that little piece of paper/electronic receipt with a back up plan. I understand, people suddenly pass on/MVA/get incarcerated/have instantaneous medical problems... I truly have doubts that all of these expired jackpot wins, that we see time after time, year after year, fall into the "exigent circumstances" category. How many lower tier prizes fall into that "expired claim time" status as well ?
my theory is f. lahijani bought two tickets with the same numbers but lost one of them.
Bought at the same gas station on the same day? Maybe the gas station owner printed two tickets by mistake and somehow discarded the other one?
It's gotta be something like that, or what Brock said.
Sounds like the other ticket was a blank printout.
I agree with this theory. I would think the lottery could clear this up since they look at video of ticket purchases. However, would they not want to tell the first winner that he may have another ticket if he doesn't remember since they can use the money somewhere else?
Yeah I agree with all the theories mentioned ... how about this thought: the other day I purchased 4 single tickets for mega millions and got 3 back ...... I counted 3 at the cashier counter and told the cashier ...... he found the missing ticket jammed in the lotto machine ..... it ripped when he took it out . .. he offered to get me a replacement ...... I told him yes and he should keep the turn ticket for himself. .. the next guy in line said that torn tivket might be lucky .... the cashier said that ticket can't be scanned though ,.. I'm led to believe the cashier punched in the exact numbers that were on that torn ticket .... which is odd seeing it was a quikpick to begin with..... I went home and examined my tickets and lo and behold one of the four had a print out that said not for sale .... reprint. I'm just saying if I win on that ticket does the store win with the to torn ticket ?
Maybe they will announce after it expires if the times the tickets were printed were close to each other or not. That will tell you if it was printed by mistake or possibly another winner.
Maybe they thought it was a bad luck ticket with the mega ball number a 13 and tossed the ticket ..
This story is too Crazy 😜 right from the start and l think the California lottery should be put under independent investigation on this matter to ensure there is no Monkey business 🧑💼 what if this was inside Job Gone so wrong won't be the first time or the last time and the only winner of one of the two tickets is Quiet l smell a Rat 🐀 😃 However l do have a New theory and this is my personal opinion. I think the winner of half of the ticket Bought the first ticket and since Powerball is on Monday Wednesday and Saturday and Mega millions is on Tuesday and Friday he probably got confused with the days since both jackpots are huge So he accidentally lost the first ticket and after that he realized the disaster So he did what l would do go Back and buy another similar ticket. Since he has been playing thoes numbers for years unfortunately this time it came at the worst possible moment 👩 Story of my life 😃🙏
Usually in these type of situations in other states the lottery would put out info about the ticket purchase that would be even more helpful, say perhaps the day of purchase, the time of purchase, so that someone's memory might be jogged. To me, I just cannot believe that a second ticket purchase doesn't have something to do with the one already claimed in some way. Were they both purchased by play card with only one combination or multiple combinations. If the card had say, a full 5 line purchase, and all combos on that card showing in their database together so that it was obvious that the same card had been run through the terminal at different times? If it was a quick pick, it would be very hard to believe that a second quick pick could have been printed at the same store. Maybe there is more info about this story that we have not seen.