They filed their claim with just a couple of days to spare.
Surprisingly, many big lottery prizes go unclaimed for months, even though players must step forward within a year. In Pennsylvania and New Jersey, at least $3.6 million - including a $1 million prize - is waiting to be collected in the major multistate games, Powerball and Mega Millions.
And that's just for second-tier prizes - matching all the numbers but the Powerball and Mega Ball. No totals were available for smaller prizes that are also unclaimed.
Only 11 days are left before $200,000 disappears in Harrisburg. No, it's not some budget bungle. Apparently, someone bought a Powerball ticket for the Sept. 19, 2009, drawing at a Jonestown Road Sunoco and never checked the numbers. Here they are: 5, 24, 25, 30, and 49, with a Powerball of 23.
That's just the most urgent example. Later this month, another $200,000 could vanish for a player in Pittsburgh. Two Philadelphia tickets worth $200,000 have also gone unclaimed - and tick . . . tick . . . ticket - time runs out for one next month.
One shouldn't assume, though, that every winner grabs the cash as quickly as possible, said Dominick DeMarco, New Jersey Lottery spokesman. "Some folks may have known that they won and slowly take their time," as they ponder plans, get expert advice, and set up retirement or educational funds, he said.
Here's a map to a lot of the buried treasure, starting with Philadelphia and working outward. New Jersey provided only cases of tickets unclaimed for at least six months.
Yo, Philly, check those tickets! Close but no cigar? Last October might have been a case of yes cigar, while coming close to a jackpot. Somebody stopped at Phil Herman's Cigar Store, 1501 Walnut St., and bought a Powerball ticket that matched the first five numbers in the Oct. 17 drawing - 5, 16, 25, 30, and 49 - but missed the Powerball of 39. As of Tuesday, no one had stepped forward to claim the $200,000 prize.
