Is it yours? $26-million lottery ticket sold in Norwalk is unclaimed

Lila Seidman
·1 min read
SAN ANSELMO, CA - JANUARY 03: Powerball and Mega Millions lottery tickets are displayed on January 3, 2018 in San Anselmo, California. The Powerball jackpot and Mega Millions jackpots are both over $400 million at the same time for the first time. The Mega Millions $418 million jackpot would be the fourth largest and the $460 million Powerball jackpot would be the seventh largest in the game's history. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
A winning SuperLotto Plus ticket was sold at a convenience store in Norwalk six months ago. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

Someone's luck is about to run out.

A winning lottery ticket worth $26 million sold in the fall in Norwalk expires Thursday, according to California Lottery officials. If no one steps up, the prize will become one of the five largest SuperLotto Plus jackpots to go unclaimed in more than 20 years.

The ticket was sold at an Arco AM/PM convenience store at 10602 E. Imperial Highway for the Nov. 14 drawing. The winning numbers were 23, 36, 12, 31, 13 and the mega number was 10.

"There's no confirmed winner at this moment," said Jorge De La Cruz, a spokesperson for the California Lottery. "The ticket is still unclaimed," although the Norwalk store where the ticket was sold received a $130,000 bonus.

Jackpots must be claimed within 180 days from the winning draw date — a deadline that's rapidly approaching for the $26-million prize.

If the winning ticket isn't claimed by the May 13 cutoff, the cash value of $19.7 million will be transferred to California public schools, according to a California Lottery news release.

Winners typically don't let prizes of this magnitude slip away, De La Cruz said.

"For jackpots to not be claimed is uncommon," he said. "It's actually very uncommon."

It has happened, though. Most recently, the winner of a $63-million SuperLotto Plus jackpot from 2015 never stepped up, according to De La Cruz.

There have been three other pots of $20 million or more in the California Lottery that haven't been claimed since 1997, not counting the current one.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.