Winner waited to claim "for personal reasons"
By Kate Northrop
LANSING, Mich. — A Michigan woman waited a year to claim her $1 million Powerball lottery prize, bringing in her winning ticket just hours before it was about to expire.
Michigan Lottery officials received a visit from a lottery winner who came in to claim a $1 million Powerball prize that was just hours away from disappearing.
Last year, someone matched five white balls in the July 14 Powerball drawing — 8, 12, 45, 46, and 63 — to win the game's second-tier prize of $1 million. That winner was Theresa Lynchosky, 63, who had bought her ticket online.
Then on Wednesday, the Michigan Lottery announced her win.
"I regularly play Powerball and purchase my tickets online," Lynchosky said in a press release. "The day after the drawing I logged on to my Lottery account and was stunned when a notification popped up saying I won $1 million! I took a screenshot of the pop-up and kept going back and looking at it because I couldn't believe it was real."
The Rochester Hills resident told Lottery staff that she waited to claim the prize on purpose, explaining that it was due to "personal reasons" that she put it off for so long.
"I decided to wait to claim the prize for personal reasons and didn't tell anyone about the big win until last week when I told my best friend," she elaborated. "I was so happy to finally share the news with someone and I'm even happier to be here claiming my prize after waiting a year."
Lottery officials said she recently claimed Lottery headquarters in Lansing to claim her winnings, which she plans to put into savings.
"I still don't have the words to describe what winning this prize means to me," she added. "I feel so grateful and blessed!"
Had Lynchosky not claimed the prize in time, the prize money would have been funneled to the state School Aid Fund, which finances K-12 public education, community colleges, and higher education.
The next Powerball annuity jackpot estimate for the drawing on Monday, July 20 currently stands at $544 million.
Powerball is currently offered for sale in 45 states, plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings are Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays at 10:59 p.m. Eastern Time. Tickets cost $2 each.
Powerball lottery results are published within minutes of the drawing at USA Mega (www.usamega.com). The USA Mega Web site provides lottery players in-depth information about the United States's two biggest multi-state lottery games, Mega Millions and Powerball.
Waiting till the last minute is not smart. Number one paper ticket fade and money is not yours for a full year. So instead of being a millionaire for example ten years you are now a millionaire for Nine years. Your life clock ⏰ does not stop so why Stop your $1,000,000 Clock ⏰
I don't know how you all feel about her reason or excuse, for claiming hours before $1M expires. PERSONAL REASONS. Something just doesn't seem right . Maybe someone else got screwed.
Would they accept the ticket if you lost it but took a pic of both sides of the ticket on your phone.
1. It was an online ticket.
2. I do not see anything suspicious. She might have been seriously ill and needed to improve or finalizing a divorce. Could have been delaying tax consequences as well.
There are many reasons to do what she did. Lots are very sneaky, while lots are very legit. We will probably never know the reasons.
But cutting the claim time down to hours cannot be a wise thing to do.
As I said in another post, just like in a good horror movie, anything can happen at any time for any reason or no reason at all.
Thank goodness for her that nothing bad happened on that last day.
Best wishes to all...
She played online-- The lottery usually tries to contact the winner by phone or e-mail. Was that done in this case?? Did this person ignore all attempts to be contacted?? The reason we play the lottery is to strike it rich so we can enjoy the money. Waiting the whole year is counterproductive and risky considering there is a deadline.
"The day after the drawing I logged on to my Lottery account and was stunned when a notification popped up saying I won $1 million! I took a screenshot of the pop-up and kept going back and looking at it because I couldn't believe it was real."
As a top of the line attorney that you play on the internet, you are saying that you should encourage your CLIENT FINALIZING A DIVORCE to hide a $1M winning lottery ticket from the husband so the husband gets screwed regardless. I feel sorry for that your client because you know what will happen when the husband finds out and sues.
There she blows again.
Always in such a foul mood but thanks for the compliment mixed in your rant. Hope your teacher retirement plan is doing better. The operative word in my prior response was "finalizing" a divorce.
As someone who gave this winner the benefit of the doubt and we had little real info, there are multiple potential above board scenarios:
If she purchased the ticket after separating or filing for divorce, whether this ticket is marital property varies state to state. And if it was considered marital property, the details of who gets what in terms of assets would have to be negotiated and finalized. It is not always a 50 50 split of each individual asset depending on whom wants which asset. A husband might want the paid off home and other assets vs lottery cash. Finalizing who gets what can take years.
Hope this obvious and simple response makes sense .
Spouse 1: If you ever hit the lottery, I'm taking half and leaving you.
Spouse 2: Hey, today's your lucky day!! I just won $10 on a scratch off. Here's your half. Start packing.
Nope!!!
Not the same thing, but had read that KY will cash on-line winners up to $50K. Like I mentioned before if you play on-line and win the big jackpot, they will not split the winnings if so desiredl
waiting until a mere few hours before it expires is absolutely bananas but i'm glad she claimed it without hitting a snag. even with mysterious personal issues it's safer to give yourself a few days padding just in case there's some fluke issue that delays you, like the app glitching, or your car battery suddenly dying, or you recently ate lettuce at taco bell.
* The winner said she was stunned. It's extremely difficult to keep a secret that long from others, considering that she said she kept going back to see if it was real. Her personal reason could be viewed as a self induced coma. Is it possible to be stunned for a year? Well, Theresa has shown that the answer is Yes.There you have it.😊