Lottery warning as $25k-a-year prize is set to expire in days – winner must come forward or jackpot will be forfeited

LOTTERY officials are urging players to check their tickets or a jackpot worth thousands will be forfeited.

The Massachusetts Lottery Commission is calling out players who may have bought a ticket at the J Convenience Store & Laundromat in Natick last year.

Officials say someone may unknowingly have a winning ticket in their wallet or purse but the time to claim the prize is running out.

Someone apparently won the Lucky for Life ticket at the store, guaranteeing them $25,000 a year for the rest of their life.

The ticket was purchased on May 17, 2023, with the winning numbers: 15-22-28-29-41 and a Lucky Ball of 6.

The anonymous winner matched the first five numbers, qualifying them for the $ 25,000-a-year payout.

If they also matched the Lucky Ball, they would have been eligible to receive $1,000 a day for the rest of their life.

Instead of taking the annual $25,000, the winner also has the option to take a lump sum of $390,000.

However, this is only if they claim the ticket on time.

JD, the manager at the convenience store who chose not to give his last name, said the store sells a lot of lottery tickets, so it's hard to know who bought it.

"We have no record of who bought it," he told the Metro West Daily News.

"We have video, but it's been so long, it has been deleted since then. We don't know who got it."

The convenience store received $1,000 for selling the winning ticket, said state lottery officials.

Along with the Lucky for Life winner, there is another big win that has expired.

The Massachusetts Lottery Commission revealed that a $100,000 Mass Cash winning ticket went unclaimed for an entire year.

That prize expired on May 2, 2024.

UNCLAIMED JACKPOTS

When prize money goes unclaimed, the money will sometimes go back into the pot to be used for future games.

However, each state can use its prize money for its own purposes.

In Illinois, unclaimed jackpots are used for the state's Common School Fund, which supports education from kindergarten through 12th grade.

Most states do the same, such as Vermont, where most of the money is used for the Vermont Education Fund.

In California, Missouri, and South Carolina, unclaimed lottery funds are used to support their public schools.

Meanwhile, in Kentucky, unclaimed winnings support the state's Educational Excellence Scholarship.

Georgia uses the fund to support education but the state's Lottery Commission also contributes $200,000 to the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities for education and treatment programs for gambling addiction.

In New York, the lottery either returns the money to the prize pool or supports education in the state.

Pennsylvania uses the money to support programs that help senior citizens.