Pennsylvania Lottery says no ticket, no prize
Includes video report
By Kate Northrop
MURRYSVILLE, Pa. — A Pennsylvania woman is heartbroken beyond belief after realizing the winning Cash 5 ticket worth $2.6 million she purchased was in the pocket of a jacket she had donated.
By the time Mildred Simoneriluto, 76, realized that she had won the $2.6 million Cash 5 jackpot, it was too late — the winning ticket was no longer in her possession.
Last spring, Simoneriluto purchased a lottery ticket for the May 8, 2024 Cash 5 drawing at Shop n' Save on William Penn Highway in Murrysville.
Simoneriluto told Pittsburgh's Action News 4 that she clearly remembers putting the ticket in her jacket the moment she bought it.
"I remember saying, 'If I put it here, I won't forget it," she said in an interview, motioning to her chest where the pocket would have been.
She didn't realize that she had won the jackpot until two weeks later, but when she started searching for her ticket, she could not find it.
To Simoneriluto's horror, she realized it was in a jacket that she had donated to Vietnam Veterans of America the previous week. It's a charity that disperses donations throughout the United States and around the world. Once her donations were picked up, there's no telling where it could have gotten shipped off to.
"I was stupefied," Simoneriluto said to reporters. "There are no words for it. It was like beyond expression. How can I get it back?"
The Pennsylvania Lottery requires a winner to present the physical winning ticket in order to file a valid prize claim. Desperate to find a way to make the claim possible, she went back to the retailer who originally sold her the ticket.
"You name it, I went back to Shop n' Save maybe a hundred times, and they said there was nothing they could do," Simoneriluto recalled.
With the deadline to claim the prize nearly a month away, only time will tell whether someone else steps forward with the $2.6 million winning ticket before it expires on May 8, 2025. Lottery winners of draw games in Pennsylvania have one year from the draw date to claim their prize.
"What else can I do?" she said, exasperated. "Cry out loud and hope that something will happen — positive — on my end."
VIDEO: Watch the report
Hopefully if someone finds it they will contact Pa.la and I'd so they do rewarding anything less than 100k would be a shame..
It's okay she won't need the money
April Fools!
Another example of careless lottery players.Why do they always happen to be the Jackpot? You must treat every lottery ticket as a winner and safeguard the tickets.
My tickets never leave my wallet,
I can't understand![]()
why folks just stuff them in pocket/s
That's sad, I hope word gets out and someone does the right thing.
Oh no!
I have heard of stories where lottery winners say
"I wish I never won that jackpot"
"I wish I tore up the ticket"
Well, maybe destiny is saving her from such moments.
I just don't know.
oh yea I did same thing
* Bummer, l seriously doubt the new owner of that jacket upon finding the ticket will say " Wow, here's Mildred 's lost ticket l need to move heaven & earth to get it to her." Her loss is dwarfed by Faramarz Lahijani's Mega million nightmare scenario out here on the West Coast.
Too bad. I guess you forget after all. If the charity didn't find it, the person who picked up the jacket will cash it out.
I am the same way. I keep them walleted until ths draw.
I agree.