CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Some very lucky person purchased a Powerball ticket worth $1 million. Just one problem, the West Virginia Lottery has no idea who that person is and time is running out to collect the prize.
The ticket was bought at the Little General Convenience Store on Robert C. Byrd Drive in Raleigh County way back in March. It matched five numbers with the exception of the Powerball.
Nikki Orcutt with the West Virginia Lottery said the deadline to collect the million dollars is fast approaching.
“Just like all of our winning tickets, there’s 180 days to claim, at which point, when that time expires, the ticket expires as well. So there’s a million dollars in the air right now and we’re just waiting on someone to claim the prize,” stressed Orcutt.
To refresh your memory, the winning numbers that Wednesday night were 6-10-23-41-45 and the Powerball was 1. The jackpot was worth $105.9 million. Seven tickets had 5 winning numbers, including the one here in West Virginia.
Orcutt said the winner could be out there and holding on to that ticket to claim the prize at the last possible minute. But that’s cutting it close.
“Whoever the winning ticket was sold to they have until September 12 to claim that prize. As of the 13th, it will be considered an unclaimed prize and monies associated with that win will go into the Lottery’s unclaimed prize fund,” explained Orcutt.
The chances of the ticket holder coming forward at this late date are about the odds of winning the money in the first place.
“Nine times out of ten, if they haven’t come forward within a reasonable time frame, the ticket has usually been lost,” said Orcutt.
So the questions, is if you purchased a Powerball ticket at the Little General in Raleigh County for the March 6 drawing, do you still have that slip of paper in your possession? If you do, it might be worth $1 million of your time to check it again.