Woman accidentally loses $26M lottery prize after throwing ticket in laundry—report

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A woman who is believed to have bought the coveted $26-million (around P1.2 billion) winning lottery ticket in California in the United States claimed that she had accidentally thrown it in the laundry and destroyed it.

The woman, whose identity was withheld, bought the SuperLotto Plus ticket in Norwalk on Nov. 14, 2020, but was unable to claim her prize due to the mishap, as per KTLA yesterday, May 13.

The manager of the gas station that sold the ticket, who was identified only as Frank, said surveillance footage showed the woman buying the winning ticket from them. The store’s workers also know the customer as a regular, who was described as a woman in her 40s.

In an attempt to claim her winnings before the ticket expired yesterday, she recently returned to the station to say that she had bought the ticket.

The woman recalled that after buying the ticket, she put it in her pocket, but later that day did her laundry and unfortunately failed to remove it. Frank advised the woman to tell reporters that she was the missing lottery winner they were looking for, but she declined.

A copy of the surveillance footage on the day he bought the ticket has since been given to California Lottery officials, but the store had already recorded over the original tape.

Lottery officials told the news outlet, however, that winners who lost their ticket can only provide substantial evidence such as a photo or photocopy of the front and back of the ticket, adding that the original surveillance footage would not be enough evidence.

Unclaimed lottery prizes in California go toward public education, the report said. Public schools in the said state have so far received around $1 billion from unclaimed lottery prizes. Ian Biong /ra

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