Hitting a $16 million Powerball jackpot is a dream for most people.
But losing a fortune by letting those lottery winnings expire is a nightmare — and that's what will happen Thursday if someone doesn't claim the ticket bought in May at a suburban Tampa, Fla., convenience store.
Lottery officials say this will be the largest unclaimed jackpot in Florida since 2003, when someone didn't claim $53 million in the Florida Lotto game.
Neighborhood residents who have been following the lack of action on the recent winner's part have taken to speculating on the mystery of why someone would take the time to buy a lottery ticket, win $16 million, and not claim the winnings.
Maybe the winner died before he or she could cash in. (Sad.)
Maybe the person lost the ticket or threw it away. (Unlucky.)
Maybe the person is from out of state and forgot. (Sad and unlucky!)
Or maybe the person has spent six months getting his or her affairs in order before claiming the jackpot. (Brilliant if a little obsessive.)
"I wish I had it," sighed resident Laura Winkles. "How could someone be so silly? This is just free money."
The owner of the Carrollwood Market said Monday that she wonders about the winner every day she walks into her store.
"The store is a neighborhood store, and pretty much 90 percent of our customers are regular customers," she said. "We still have a little bit of hope that somebody will come before Thursday."
Nidia Tannous has placed signs in her store's window, urging customers to check their Powerball tickets from Memorial Day.
The store received $25,000 for selling the winning ticket.
"I bought a ticket that very day that ticket was sold here," said Joe Fitzgerald, a nearby resident. "I checked mine, and unfortunately, it wasn't mine."
According to the Florida Lottery website, if a Powerball jackpot isn't claimed within 180 days from the draw date, "the funds to pay the unclaimed jackpot will be returned to the lottery members in their proportion of sales for the jackpot rollover series."
In Florida, about 80 percent of that share will go toward the state's education enhancement trust fund. The remaining 20 percent goes to the Florida Lottery prize pool to fund new games and promotions.
For anyone who thinks they might have bought the winning ticket, here are the details:
It was purchased at Carrollwood Market on West Village Drive in Tampa. The drawing was Saturday, May 25, and the winning numbers were 02, 06, 19, 21, and 27, with Powerball number 25.
Another one oh my
Maybe it was bought by a snow-bird who was just about to hop into a plane to fly north..really sad. I'd rather someone claim and waste the money than never claim at all.
I cant believe there is soooo many people who are not turning their winning tickets in....you let me win a dollar....boy Im all over it LOL...Check your tickets people
My thought exactly Maringo, snowbird enters a store buys a can of soda or pack of cigarettes asks for one PB ticket and forgets all about it. Flies home to who knows where and all they can think of is eating tuna and playing bingo with old friends. That ticket is an afterthought, probably got tossed into the washing machine with the pair of jeans or shirt.
Todd keeps dredging up these news nuggets that simple have us shaking our heads.
I really think some people just rarely play it and then forget about it. I used to play only a couple of times a year (PB only) and when you are at work and are taking papers back and forth to home and back to work, you can forget about a little piece of paper. I was going through some old papers for shredding a month ago and found a PB ticket from 2008. I did have the PB# but no more. I am more serious now since I pick my own numbers and I try to keep them all in my appt. book.
This is going to be a dumb question, but how did this person win a 16 million PB jackpot? Last I recall, 180 days ago, the starting jackpot for PB was 40 million? Maybe I'm wrong, lol.
Put out a reward of $10,000.00 or more, and a "wanted poster" of the person who bought the ticket, especially on social media, and in 48hrs or less, you'll have your answer.
The May 25th Powerball was $50 million and split 3 ways (Delaware, Florida, and Louisiana).
World's most expensive bookmark.
It's a shame, but there's just no excuse with the internet and scanning machines in every convenience store/gas station/supermarket, etc.
$16 million---probably about $5-6 mil after taxes? Oh, brother...
Your best is good enough Maestro
I suppose hearing a jackpot of $20M or less was won isn't enough to get some people concerned to the point of checking their tickets. I wonder how long will it be before a jackpot of $200M+ goes unclaimed.
I can't believe it either, just searched and their are two other stories of Florida lotto
looking for winners of jackpots about to expire, the one above mentioned for $50m
and another story for $10m, dang Florida what gives with the missing winners
This to me is just a sign of follishness, ignorance!
What's the sense of playing and not checking the ticket. A pervect example is just last night with me. I caught 2 free games with Take 5 which could be a big winner in tonites game.
Plus I have a co worker that we split a powerball and mega ticket. On last nights Powerball we caught the powerball, $4.00 dollars. So with that I will buy another powerball for Saturday, and 2 Mega's for tomorrow night. This is all due to a winner we caught. Because I checked our ticket. And we may just win the big one.
CHECK YOUR TICKETS PEOPLE..
Wow amazing this happens!!! Shoot $16 million is a nice amount of money.
Might be in one of those sink holes.
Makes you wonder if the person passed away.
I treat every bought ticket for any lottery game as though it's the jackpot winner until proven otherwise. Respect your ticket(s) and your chance to experience a life-changing event.
Another one bites the dust.
This is a dream come true. But, someone let it slip through their fingers. I'd hate to be that person. I wonder if there was video shown of the winner on the news. They do that in California, and sometimes that really helps find the winner.
Better luck next time.
Why play the lottery if you don't check your tickets? It makes no sense to me.
It's official, the ticket went unclaimed and is now expired...
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
I can't even win $1,600 and people are letting $16M expire? NNot good!
I wonder if the winner was able to claim his prize? If not, this is really unfortunate, there are so many players who would like to be in his shoes. There are so many cases like this that happened, I hope players will be very careful with their tickets and check their tickets so they would know if they have won prizes.