One lucky player had their shot at changing their life - chances are they are none the wiser about it
The Buckey State lottery explained in a press release that a Powerball ticket that won $130 million in Ohio in July last year has not been claimed and thus expired. Although not uncommon, the $130 million ticket is indeed one of the largest tickets not to have been claimed in the state.
A player in Huber Heights purchased the ticket on July 3, 2024, at a Walmart Supercenter on Brandt Piker. The ticket was never claimed, and chances are that the person who had it never knew that they actually did.
This is not unheard of, as many people tend to buy tickets out of habit but, never actually expecting to win, they may get a little careless about how they store their tickets. The auto-pick ticket hit all five numbers, plus the Powerball number, and fetched their unknown owner $138 million.
Should they have claimed the ticket in a single go, they would have still got $65.8 million after federal and state taxes had been applied.
It is not all bad, however, as the ticket's funds are now allocated to support Ohio's education, while the lottery itself will take a $1.9 million cut allowing it to further enhance its operations. The Ohio ticket is not the only one to have expired recently.
In California, a winner of a $395 million Mega Millions jackpot never stepped forward, with their ticket expiring in early December. The $395 million was won by two tickets, with one person already claiming their half, but the remaining $197 million expiring.
The man who won the first half, however, is now suing the Californian Lottery in a bid to secure the other half of the prize. The plaintiff insists that in the absence of the other winner failing to claim their prize, it should be to him that the remainder of the original jackpot is allocated.
The lawsuit was filed on December 11, 2024, only several days after the unclaimed ticket expired.