SOUTH BRUNSWICK, N.J. — You may be a millionaire and not even know it.
Worse yet, you only have until May 17 to figure it out or lose the prize, according to New Jersey Lottery officials.
In a press release Wednesday, lottery officials said a winning $1 million ticket sold in South Brunswick Township, New Jersey, from the May 16, 2012 Powerball drawing has not yet been claimed.
A $1 million ticket was sold at the Stop&Shop store #818 at Summefield Boulevard and Route 522 in the Dayton section of South Brunswick, according to officials.
The winning numbers for that drawing were 3, 7, 21, 28, and 43, with Powerball number 2, according to lottery officials.
Winning ticket holders have one year from the date of the drawing to claim the prize or it is forfeited. The ticket will expire May 17, according to officials.
The $1 million is the second tier prize of the multi-state game and the odds of winning it are 1 in 5,153,633, according to the state.
If you find this ticket after cleaning out the junk drawer, or see it sitting at the bottom of a forgotten stack of papers on a table, lottery officials say you should sign the back and contact either the state lottery headquarters at 609-599-5800 or visit a local lottery retailer to verify the claim.
After May 17, the money goes into the state’s coffers.
Probably some poor soul that died broke and could have used the money.
I hope the winners claims before the expiration date.
That ticket is long-gone. It was inadvertently trashed the same day it was purchased. Too bad.
Does anyone know where I can get a "coffer" ? It sounds BETTER than a winning lottery ticket!
I know people who have played the lottery and never bothered checking their tickets. Why even play? It's not like the lottery fairy will magically come to you with that gigantic, over-sized check.
Some people think they win the jackpot or nothing. So if no news of a jackpot winner, no need to check.
Welp, that screws it up royal for the guy who was quietly waiting for his divorce to be finalized.
Now everybody's gonna be watchin'.
Especially his wife's busybody girlfriend.
I guarantold ya.
Yeah- hope someone is listening....
Avoiding Unclaimed Lotto Tickets
The good news is there are several things you can do to avoid having unclaimed prizes and make sure you cash in on any winning tickets. The best thing you can do is keep all your lotto and lottery places in a folder or binder that you keep in a safe place. For every game you play, make sure to keep hold of your physical tickets or write down then numbers you played. This way, you will always know where your lotto tickets and numbers are.
Another thing you can do is make sure you always check and double check to see if you won! Believe it or not, many people forget to check if they are a winner. It is easy to check any winning lotto numbers, state-by-state on the internet, or at the local store where you bought your ticket. Many ticket agents have computers that will automatically scan and check if you are a winner.
Finally, make sure you check the winning numbers early. Most lotto and lottery games have a specified time when you can claim your prize, usually one year from the drawing date. You don’t want to find out you have a winning ticket, only to realize you are too late to claim it. A recent news story told of a woman who found a winning ticket in her pocket one week before it expired!
Don’t win the big jackpot and miss out on your prize. By taking a few precautions, you can make sure that you cash in on your prize if you are a winner.
may 17 2013...time's a ticking
"Money mistakes can be corrected, but time is gone forever" - David Norris
Yikes, I hope they find it in time.
Whatever floats yer boat. Here ya go ...
It will be expired on May 17, the numbers were drawn on May 16,2012.
Tank Q.
If he/she can't do that, at least get it in the mail on the 16th. I remember reading about a guy in New Jersey who did that a few years ago and was lucky, the ticket arrived a couple of days late but the envelope was post marked on the last day and it didn't get lost.
Thats also true when you send in a right to recision on business deals.
Maybe they left the country,lost the ticket,threw it out by mistake, and yes,maybe they died. Another $1M for the state treasury.Too bad for the lottery player.
The winner could be in jail. Poor soul.
In 2007, $31 million dollars went unclaimed in New York. How can you not claim that? Boy, I wish I had that Mega Millions ticket.
I actually live in this town, and my parents usually buy tickets from this Stop and Shop...
Forgetting to check a ticket and sticking it away sounds like something my mom would do... so I'm gonna have to make sure it's not just sitting around here somewhere haha. Of course everyone else who would play in the house checks their tickets regularly.... but that would be too funny if we found the ticket sitting in a drawer somewhere, only b/c of this story.
Fat chance, but def. worth a shot. And not a bad excuse to clean the house, either!
Welcome back Boney, I think your odds of finding that winner are GOOD.
It will be claimed on May 16th by a lawyer.
I'd say it's hard to determine.... but the odds are def. good enough that I'm gonna go ahead and look for sure. Heck the way I see it, the odds of it being in a dresser or one of my mom's old purses is far higher than the odds of me winning, if only b/c we know it's from the store she gets tickets from on occasion...
It would be really helpful to know how many lines were on the winning ticket, b/c my mom always buys a specific number of lines...
FYI I usually stop by to take a look at the front page stories, although I don't usually post anymore.
Call the lottery office. They can probably tell you how many lines. Might save you a day of hunting if it's not the number she plays.
Good idea. Better yet, ask for a security footage photo of the winner. I hope she smiled for the camera.
Lottery players are winners. I hope you play the lottery again someday.
Who could be that clueless person? May 17 is so soon. I hope it will not be late before he finds that out. It must be a missing ticket again.
Or the ticket might be left in someone's pocket and then destroyed by a washing machine
What a tragedy!
Dummies playing.......... how stupid to gamble and not check, sorry but "stupid is as stupid does". Who knows maybe they'll do one of them send someone at the last minute and have some legal problem right along with it.
If a photo of the winner were published, perhaps they could collect without having the ticket?
I hope the winner steps forward to claim this prize.