$23 Million Winner Forgot About Ticket, Makes Claim Days Before Losing Jackpot
A $23 million lottery winner forgot to check her ticket for months and almost lost her winnings, only coming forward days before the time limit for winners to claim.
The woman had left her ticket in her car without checking whether it had won, according to the California lottery on Friday.
As the deadline approached officials put out a public notice with her picture in it pleading for her to come forward with her winning ticket, according to The Daily Mail.
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"She just never checked the ticket," lottery spokesman Alex Traverso told the San Bernardino County Sun. "Her daughter took a picture of her photo in the newspaper and sent it to her mother; she went to her car and found the ticket."
The publicized photo notice showed the woman purchasing the ticket from a SuperLotto Plus Jackpot at a liquor store in Palmdale. The purchase was made all the way back in May.
According to ABC News the woman, after being notified of newspaper plea, came forward finally to claim her winnings this week. Officials have confirmed that she should received her winnings now in about four to six weeks.
If the woman did not make her claim by the November deadline date the winnings would have been deferred to California schools.
The manager of the liquor store, Ben Sadi, has told ABC News that he remembered exactly the woman who had purchased the ticket.
"I know what she looked like, and I recognize who she is," he said.
He explained that his store opened just 27 days before the winning ticket -- 14, 7, 26, 31, 23 and Mega 5 -- was purchased.
He said, "We have signs outside that say, 'The millionaire made here,' with the check that she won, the $23 million. I was really really happy, really extremely happy. Our first store, we hit the lotto."
The man's store will now also receive a bonus of 0.5 percent for selling the winning ticket, which amounts to $115,000.
