The $1 million Powerball ticket sold at the New Bern Station on New Bern Avenue in Raleigh back in the April 27 drawing expired at 5 p.m. Monday afternoon.
As the ticket went unclaimed, half of the prize money goes to the education initiatives the lottery supports and the other half goes back into the pool of money that goes to pay out prizes to players.
To help get the word out about the ticket, the NCEL placed a countdown clock in the front window of the store. Afterwards, patrons of the store speculated as to the whereabouts of that lucky piece of paper.
The staff of the News and Observer, the local newspaper in Raleigh, did their part to help find the winner by running multiple stories focusing on finding the missing winner.
Here’s an excerpt from a story that ran Monday morning:
“On Sunday, as the clock counted down to a new record, New Bern Station customers fantasized about who might have the unclaimed ticket and how they would spend the cash.
Two days, two hours and 40 minutes: Jay Butler buys three Pick 3 lotto tickets at New Bern Station. He says he'll go home to check his garbage.
Two days, two hours and 17 minutes: Carmella Walker glances at the clock as she buys a newspaper. When she was in college in Philadelphia, she used to pay for textbooks with lottery winnings. Her luck ran out after graduation; she hasn't won since. Walker knows what she would do if that Powerball ticket were hers: "Quit my job. Quit, quit, quit. If I won a nickel more than I'm making right now, I would quit. For those people who say, 'Oh no, I would keep working,' they say that because they haven't won."
Two days, one hour and 52 minutes: Takeila Brantley eyes the clock from the sidewalk outside. If the ticket were hers, she says, she would buy a car, a house and stack up some savings for her unborn baby. "They better come claim that ticket," Brantley said. "If not, they need to let me have it.””
Stories such as this, along with word of mouth at the store, will hopefully lead to a happy ending to future expiring ticket stories.
This was the largest prize to ever go unclaimed since the NCEL’s inception. However, this pales in comparison to some other state lotteries. In New York, a $68 million Mega Millions prize from 2002 and another worth $46 million from 2003 went unclaimed. In Indiana, no winner came forward to claim a $51.7 million prize back in 2002.
The NCEL loves to award prizes, and we never want to see a ticket expire. We urge our players to double check their numbers, and ALWAYS sign the back of the ticket to claim ownership.
So how do you Lucke-Zoners keep your tickets safe? Do you have a favorite way to check your numbers?
Login to leave a comment.