LOS ANGELES, CA — An astronomically lucky winner is on the verge of becoming a historical loser Thursday if they don’t step forward and claim their $26 million SuperLotto jackpot. The winning ticket purchased in Los Angeles County, is set to expire by day’s end Thursday. If it expires, it would be the third-largest jackpot in state history to go unclaimed.
The ticket was purchased at an ARCO AM/PM station at 10602 E. Imperial Highway in Norwalk on Nov. 14. The 180-day deadline to claim the jackpot is Thursday. It can be claimed in person at a state lottery office. Or, the winner can always drop the $26 million ticket with a lottery claim form in the mail Thursday in time to have it postmarked May 13 (not recommended).
The winning numbers were 23, 36, 12, 31, 13, with the mega number 10.
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If no one comes forward with the winning ticket, it would not be the first time a jackpot went unclaimed in Los Angeles County. The record for the largest unclaimed jackpot in the state is a $63 million SuperLotto ticket sold in Chatsworth in 2015.
In that case, the winning ticket was sold at a 7-Eleven on Lassen Street. A man named Brandy Milliner claimed to have the winning ticket and sued the state, but a judge ruled with the state lottery that Milliner’s ticket wasn’t the real deal.
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"It's an odd situation," California Lottery Deputy Director Russ Lopez told Patch at the time. "We pay out $60 million a week on average, so we have a lot of claims... There were so many hoaxes, so many photoshopped tickets, so many claims. Anybody can make a claim.”
The second-largest unclaimed jackpot was a $28.5 million ticket sold in 2003.
Largest unclaimed jackpots in state history:
- $63M (draw date 8/8/2015)
- $28.5M (draw date 9/10/2003)
- $26M (the current unclaimed SuperLotto Plus jackpot from the 11/14/2020 draw)
- $25M (draw date 1/8/2000)
- $20M (draw date 10/11/1997)
It’s not unheard of for Jackpot winners to sometimes wait weeks to claim their winnings.
In 2019, Garshasb Bigvand, a $23 million jackpot winner in Woodland Hills waited weeks to come forward for his payday.
If no one claims the jackpot, $19.7 million will be transferred to California’s public schools.
Unclaimed winnings are hardly the only drama surrounding the storied lottery in California.
There is Antulio Mazariegos, the San Fernando Valley man who keeps winning the lottery. And there was the Pacoima Powerball winner who was understandably “a little sad,” when he won $638,146, but came one number shy of the historic $1.6 billion jackpot.
The jackpot winner with the saddest story may be a Ventura County security guard who blew through his $19 million jackpot and turned to robbing banks across Southern California to maintain his easy-money lifestyle.
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