Powerball Ticket Worth $16 Million About To Expire
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – A Powerball ticket worth $16 million dollars is set to expire this week unless the winner comes forward.
The ticket was purchased at the Carrollwood Market on West Village Drive in Tampa. The drawing was Saturday, May 25, and the winning numbers were 02, 06, 19, 21, 27 and a Powerball of 25.
If the holder doesn't claim the prize by Thursday, they're out of luck.
According to the Florida Lottery website, if a Powerball jackpot isn't claimed within 180 days from the draw date, "the funds to pay the unclaimed jackpot will be returned to the lottery members in their proportion of sales for the jackpot rollover series."
Neighborhood residents of the store where the ticket was sold offered their view on the mystery as to why someone would take the time to buy a lottery ticket, win $16 million, and not claim the winnings.
Maybe the winner died before he or she could cash in. (Sad.)
Maybe the person lost the ticket or threw it away. (Unlucky.)
Maybe the person is from out of state and forgot. (Sad and unlucky!)
Or maybe the person has spent six months getting his or her affairs in order before claiming the jackpot. (Brilliant if a little obsessive.)
The owner of the Carrollwood Market said Monday that she wonders about the winner every day she walks into her store.
"The store is a neighborhood store, and pretty much 90 percent of our customers are regular customers," she said. "We still have a little bit of hope that somebody will come before Thursday."
Nidia Tannous has placed signs in her store's window, urging customers to check their Powerball tickets from Memorial Day.
The store received $25,000 for selling the winning ticket.
Lottery officials say this will be the largest unclaimed jackpot in Florida since 2003, when someone didn't claim $53 million in the Florida Lotto game.
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