He had the winning lottery ticket and left it in his pants in the washing machine

The winner of a $ 26 million in the California lottery he threw the chance to win this fortune.

The winning ticket for the November 14, 2020 SuperLotto Plus drawing was sold at an Arco AM / PM store in Norwalk, a suburb of Los Angeles. Last Thursday was the last day to get it back after 6 months, but no one did.

The employee of the establishment, Esperanza Hernández, said Whittier Daily News that a woman came on Wednesday and told the workers that she kept the ticket in her pants and that It was destroyed in the washing machine.

The store manager told TKLA-TV that video from one of the surveillance cameras shows how the woman, whom store staff know, bought the ticket.

A copy of the video was given to the California lottery authorities, he added. The woman’s claim will be investigated, lottery spokeswoman Cathy Johnston said.

Those responsible for the draw state that if a person believes they are the winner, they must complete a form to claim the prize. But if someone loses a ticket, they have to prove that they owned it, with a photograph of the front and back of the ticket, for example, they added.

The winning numbers were 23, 36, 12, 31 and 13, and the mega number ten. The $ 26 million prize can be collected as annuities or a one-time cash payment from 19.7 million.

WITHOUT A WINNER, THE MONEY GOES TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS

If no one claims the prize, the $ 19.7 million will go to public schools in California.

The store that sold the ticket will receive a bonus of $ 130,000.

Grand prizes rarely go unclaimed, officials noted.

Since 1997, they have gone unclaimed four other prizes of 20 million or more, including one in 63 million in 2015, Lottery spokesman Jorge De La Cruz told the Los Angeles Times.

AP Agency.

GML