The enormous lottery prize is about to expire. The mystery player participated in a very uncommon draw.
There is an unaware multimillionaire out there.
They purchased one of two winning Mega Millions tickets at an Encino Chevron gas station in December of last year, and they currently owe $197.5 million in lottery winnings.
Right up till Saturday.
For the would-be moneybags, ignorance will then be bliss.
“We would love to see the rightful winner get their prize money,” California Lottery spokesman Carolyn Becker stated on Wednesday. However, if the prize claim deadline on Saturday is missed, “my hypothesis and hope is that the winner never knows.”
They were the only two winning tickets in the country, and they were sold at the same petrol station in California in the same month.
Although Becker was unable to pinpoint the exact rarity of that happening, she pointed out that Mega Millions is a multistate game, with over 23,000 ticket sellers in California alone.
“When this happened last year,” she stated to The Times, “my mind was like that little emoji where the brain is exploding.”
But there is a bright side if the owner of the golden ticket does not come forward by Saturday.
The funds will be used to support schools throughout California. But not all of it. Refunding funds to the states that contributed to the pot falls under the purview of the California Lottery. According to Becker, around $13.8 million will be distributed among California schools, and approximately $80.5 million will be returned to the other states.
People losing, throwing, or otherwise ignoring their winning lottery tickets has frequently resulted in financial gain for schools.
Regarding the state’s lottery games, Becker stated, “It’s safe to say in the last five to ten years, we have averaged about $40 million to $50 million a year unclaimed.”
The California Lottery will commemorate 40 years since it sold its first ticket in October 2025. According to her, over $1 billion has been left unclaimed over that period, “and that all funnels to schools.”
