Someone out there has just lost $63 million as there was no winner of this particular USA lottery or none that could be located. Earlier this month, the Californian Lottery was frantically scrambling to locate an extremely lucky ticket holder of a $63 million lottery ticket.
But after frantic searching plus a deadline of Friday 5 February, the ticket lapsed.
There was some hope, as a man claimed that he turned in a winning ticket, yet it was far too damaged to be a legitimate claim, much like a UK woman who claimed she washed her lottery millions away. The Californian Lottery says that it's looking into the claim as well as many that have been brought forward:
"We do have some claims to investigate, so we can say as of right now, no one has come forward with the winning ticket. But we have had lots of inquiries and the potential for more claims."
The odds of winning the $63 million were almost as much as the ticket itself. At 1 in 42 million, the chances of landing this jackpot would be extremely lucky. The Californian Lottery urged for a winner to come forward:
"If by some miracle you happen to find this extremely valuable piece of paper, the California Lottery urges you to sign your ticket in ink and get it to one of our lottery district offices."One of the theories running around the offices of the Californian Lottery is that the true winner was hastily trying to locate their ticket or that "they're none the wiser that they've won this prize."
California seems to be the home of absent lottery winners as a third resident of the state has yet to claim their share of the $1.6 billion Powerball jackpot.
There's a silver lining, in the form of a record-breaking charitable donation. If the claims fail, all state schools in California will benefit from the $63 million jackpot. This will be the largest ever unclaimed lottery prize money awarded to a public institution.
