Winning Lotto Ticket Expires at 5 p.m.

Time is running out. Fast.

The person who bought a Fantasy 5 ticket worth almost half a million dollars only has until 5 p.m. today to claim their prize, otherwise the unclaimed money will be transferred to California schools.

The person who bought a Fantasy 5 ticket worth almost half a million dollars only has one more week to claim their prize, otherwise the unclaimed money will be transferred to California schools.

That’s if the person ever realizes they won.

The California Lottery announced in October that numbers given out for the nearly six-month-old Fantasy 5 ticket purchased at the San Diego County Fair were “only 80 percent correct,” according to an email from the California Lottery.

When the ticket went unclaimed, the lottery issued releases calling for the winner(s) to come forward. In the weeks after the June 17 drawing, those officials releases said the winning numbers were 28, 24, 33, 39 and 18. 

Those incorrect numbers provided by the California Lottery showed up in media reports like this NBC San Diego article posted on June 20.

These same numbers appeared in official lottery releases in July, August  and even September .

The actual winning numbers were 28, 24, 33, 39, and 30, according to an Oct. 17 release by the California Lottery.

“The ticket remains unclaimed and we apologize for any inconvenience,” wrote the California Lottery.

In a statement posted online, the California Lottery explains their position on erroneous numbers:

Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the winning number information on this page, however, mistakes can occur. You should verify winning numbers at California Lottery retailers. Complete game information and prize claiming instructions are also available at California Lottery retailers. In the case of a discrepancy, California State laws and California Lottery regulations prevail.

The ticket matched all five numbers in the Fantasy 5 draw. It’s worth $461,407.

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