If you live in Maryland, you might want to double check any old lottery tickets you may have laying around, because there’s a ton of winnings just waiting to be claimed, including a $1 million prize.
A Howard County convenience store sold a Mega Millions ticket that won a second-tier prize worth $1 million. The mystery winner was able to pick the first five numbers — 02, 19, 44, 51, 57 — but not the bonus number, beating the 18-million-to-one odds of winning the prize.
The winner has six months to claim the $1 million prize. If they do claim the prize, they can receive their winnings as either a lump sum payment, or as an annuity. According to the rules, the Mega Millions annuity is paid out as one immediate payment followed by 29 annual payments, with each succeeding payment growing 5% bigger.
The Maryland Lottery encourages the mystery winner to sign the back of the ticket immediately and put it in a safe location.
That’s not the only ticket that’s gone unclaimed. There are also three unclaimed Bonus Match 5 top prizes of $50,000, and an unclaimed Multi-Match jackpot of $625,000. All in all, there’s an additional $1,775,000 in prizes just waiting to be claimed.
The winning numbers of the Multi-Match ticket were 1, 5, 11, 15, 17 and 26. The Snow’s Turn Goose Creek at 1801 Race St. in Cambridge sold that ticket.
The first winning, unclaimed Bonus Match 5 top ticket was sold at Fairhill Citgo in Elkton, which had winning numbers of 3, 6, 13, 17, 38, and a Bonus Ball of 11. The second was sold at a Short Stop News in Columbia, and had winning numbers of 3, 15, 19, 22, 39, with a Bonus Ball of 24. The third was sold at an All Saints Shell in Laurel, with winning numbers of 1, 3, 8, 18, 28, and a Bonus Ball of 38.
All winners have 182 days — about six months — from the date of the drawing to claim their prizes in person at the Maryland Lottery headquarters in Baltimore.
The clock’s ticking. Better start looking for those tickets.
