Like a magical horse-drawn carriage that transforms into a pumpkin at midnight, someone's winning $63-million lottery ticket is about to turn into a worthless scrap of paper, according to California Lottery officials.
A winning SuperLotto Plus ticket purchased at a Chatsworth convenience store in August has yet to be redeemed at a California Lottery office, even though a deadline is fast approaching.
If the lucky winner fails to show up at a lottery office by 5 p.m. Thursday, they will forfeit the jackpot, officials say.
"At this point, the odds are slim of anybody coming forward," lottery spokesman Alex Traverso said.
Nobody has even shown up with a fake ticket trying to claim the cash, officials said.
The California Lottery put out a public call in November, warning the ticket holder that they had 180 days to claim the $63-million jackpot. Then in December, Lottery Post reported that the California Lottery would not be using store surveillance footage to find the winner, like it had in the past. Now, the clock is really winding down.
Officials say the golden ticket was sold on Aug. 8 at a 7-Eleven store, at 20871 Lassen St. The winning numbers are 1, 16, 30, 33, and 46, with Mega number 24.
If a winner does not come forward, the multimillion-dollar cash prize would be the largest unclaimed SuperLotto Plus ticket in California. The current largest unclaimed prize is $28.5 million for a ticket sold in San Lorenzo, Calif., in 2003.
However, if the winner is someone who just likes to cut things a little too close, and walks into a lottery office by the close of business Thursday, they will have the option of receiving a lump-sum, one-time payment of $39.9 million, or $63 million in payments over 30 years.
The retail store owner who sold the ticket will still receive $315,000, even if no one shows up to claim the $63 million.
Lottery officials say they also have yet to hear from the person who walked into a Chino Hills 7-Eleven last month and purchased a winning ticket in a massive $1.6-billion Powerball drawing.
In that case, however, the winner still has a year to claim their $528-million share of the jackpot before the ticket turns to trash.
That is just mind boggling.
Can you imagine that if you purchased a ticket from this Chatsworth convenience store at the same time but you also lost it and the numbers on it are not the winning numbers?
For the real ticket, there are so many guesses as to what happened to it. Check your couch. Empty your wallet. Look inside your car. On and On...
The winner is about to say goodbye to about $25 million and then have a good cry.
People say there's always a winner, yea, in this case it's the state.
I think the other two powerball tickets from this last huge jackpot will be lost tickets too.
If you can't keep track of your tickets you shouldn't even play lol.
That ticket is either in a safe place- or it ended up in a pair of jeans that went through the washer.
Sounds like another lost ticket or expired winner.
Hope California will put that $63M to good use.
Yes, It is sounding like the ticket could have been missed place. I'm going to add a new twists to this. What if the person that purchase the ticket was a service person,that was station there then got shipped out? Are one of the people who work on the oil rigs that get ship out 6 months at a time. Something to think about.
No wonder why the Robbinson family rushing to be on National television, before even claiming
their lottery prize.
Every time I see a story about a jackpot expiring, I get all-pissed-off.
I think the next person that won the SuperLotto Plus in California (September 9, 2015 for $15 million) should get the $63 million if it is not claimed. Or, they should have a second-chance drawing for it. The State's shouldn't just pocket the money, throw up their hands and say "Oh well!". And why wouldn't they use "store surveillance footage to find the winner, like it had in the past"? They beat a path to that Chino Hills store after it sold one of the winning Powerball tickets for $328 million last month like their tails were on fire. There is just something "Off" about the California Lottery in my humble opinion.
What if a new state lottery rule, that was stated, that if the person who purchased the winning SuperLotto Plus ticket didn't come forward, the store owner would not get that $315,000, for selling that winning ticket. That store owner would be in a panic, right about now. Lol.
If that were the case I bet the store owner would be hiring a bounty hunter to find the person who purchased the ticket!
Woops! I lost my ticket.
Ha! You got that right! Dog and Beth would be on the case.
WHY purchase a ticket ..................
Saw on the news, 2 BILLION dollars goes unclaimed every year in the US. Crazyyyyy
I agree. It's a crying shame. I cannot say anything else noteworthy?
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Exactamundo.
I agree.
Sounds insane, but true.
I thought it was actually 1 billy, but close enough for my purposes.
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TO ALL LOTTO PLAYERS:
Do not ignore the Lotto. If you play it, be serious about it. It could be your future.
When you think about it, what is more important than winning the Lotto?
Therefore, be mindful of your tickets and of the drawing for which they apply.
I will not caution you again:
Being that tomorrow is the "winner's" last day to claim, I hope the winner does make it.
I like your avatar. It's like a cartoon of Ward Cleaver
(the Dad on Leave it to Beaver), at age 21, going for his
first job interview as an insurance salesman.
it begs the question...how in the world someone would be so careless???
The California Lottery should offer a subscription service. It would be helpful for players, as the lottery would have a record of the ticket and player, if a prize is won.
It would also be beneficial for the lottery, as it would generate additional revenue.
2/4/16
State of California will be the winner if no one claims the prize by Thursday.
Hope it wasn't some military personnel who was deployed and injured?
Maybe the winner is aware of the prize defaulting to state and has not bothered with collecting it for
some kind of fear, that this amount of money would do to their well being.
Is there a technical term for "Jackpot-phobia" or "millionaire-phobia" ?
For what it is worth just read an article on Facebook. It said Brandy Milliner is suiing the CA lottery because he said they will not pay him the $63 million. It said ticket was damaged and could not be validated. Who knows? Maybe tickets pasted together??
Todd, can you verify this story?
Thank you.
Just read the same story on latimes website, interesting to say the least. And that story out of Tennessee with a prisoner suing for Powerball money, give me a break!
This is crazy makes me wonder if the person may have passed away or misplaced the ticket.
They said there's no record of a claim. Looks like another dreamer.
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How can that be, anyway?
If someone's in jail, they're not allowed to collect their social security, during that time.
So, why would they be able to sue for something like the lotto?
Does it have to do with the tickets having been paid for, with 'after-tax' dollars?
Nah, couldn't be that, as lotto is a tax itself.
And then there's the question about how did the prisoner get a hold of the ticket in question?
I don't believe a word of his claim, but let's say he paid for it with a "prisoner's allowance". Then, doesn't that $2.00 come from a tax that we all pay? (so, would that be considered before or after tax money?), if indeed it even applies.
I don't understand any of this situation, which sounds designed to waste peoples' time.
I looked it up. It could be Plutophobia (fear of wealth). And here I thought that was just a fear of Disney characters...
Or fear of dwarf planets. LOL !
2/4/16
OneTrickpony,
Thanks for the plutophobia , fear of wealth technical name.
One of the news articles includes a picture of the ticket. It looks heat damaged, and is completely illegible, so much so that I can't even tell where the numbers were.