A San Diego SuperLotto Plus player made an "11th-hour" claim to the $38-million prize Thursday evening, a lottery official confirmed Friday.
The player came into the California Lottery office in San Diego minutes before 5 p.m., which was the deadline to claim the prize, and submitted a claim report, according to Carolyn Becker with the CA Lottery.
At this point, the player is only considered a "claimant" and the lottery has not confirmed they are a true winner, Becker told NBC 7
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"Our investigative process for big winners is rigorous and thorough, which means it can take weeks or even months, depending on the circumstances,” Becker said in a press release issued Friday night. “Because of that, we probably won’t know for quite some time whether the person who came in yesterday is indeed the rightful winner of the $38 million prize. If so – we will make that announcement once the vetting process is complete.”
If the claimant isn't, in fact, the winner, the "lump sum" cash prize of $22.9 million will fall into state public schools' pockets. It won't be the first time a prize has gone unclaimed — more than $1 billion have gone unclaimed since 1985 when Lottery tickets first went on sale, according to Becker.
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It doesn't matter now, but let's say for some reason that you're still unaware you bought the winning ticket at the 7-Eleven at 430 Spruce Street. Your numbers would be 3, 15, 21, 35, 46 and the Mega number would be 18. For your sake, we hope that's not the case.
For more information on how to claim the prize visit the California Lottery website.