SACRAMENTO – The California Lottery is searching from the mountains to the ocean for two lucky winners from the southern part of the state. While the MEGA Millions jackpot is towering to $113 million for Friday night’s draw, large prizes from past draws are still unclaimed.
One winner from the January 29th draw has yet to come forward. That 2-month-old ticket is worth $174,574 and was sold at the 7-Eleven at 702 West 6th Street in Corona.
Five weeks ago on February 22nd, there were six tickets worth $159,065 each. One is still outstanding. That ticket was sold at the 7-Eleven at 1533 Peck Road in South El Monte.
California Lottery officials want to remind winners to sign the back of their tickets, keep tickets in a safe place and contact Lottery officials or visit your local Lottery District Office (http://www.calottery.com/AboutUs/Locations) as soon as possible. Winners have 180 days from the date of the draw to claim prizes.
Every penny of unclaimed prizes is added to the contribution the Lottery delivers to California schools. Last fiscal year, more than $29 million in unclaimed prizes was forwarded to public education.
More than 95 cents of every Lottery dollar is returned to the community in the form of contributions to education, prizes and retail commissions. The California Lottery contributes at least 34 cents of every dollar that players spend on Lottery products to public education and returns more than 50 percent of sales to players in the form of prizes. Since its inception in 1985, the Lottery has contributed more than $20 billion to California schools out of total sales of nearly $55 billion. Retailers benefit too, earning $3.5 billion in compensation since 1985.