Deadline for claiming $63M lotto prize passes

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES

Luck may have run out for the winner of a California Lottery jackpot: The person has apparently let $63 million slip through their fingers.

Nobody showed up at a state lottery office by 5 p.m. Thursday with the ticket or submitted a verified claim for the prize, lottery spokesman Alex Traverso said.

A lawsuit filed Wednesday in Los Angeles seeks to have a judge declare a winner. Brandy Milliner contends he already turned in the ticket but officials told him it was too damaged to be processed.

Traverso said the lottery is looking into the claim.

“We do have some claims to investigate,” he said in an email shortly before the 5.p.m deadline. “So we can say as of right now, no one has come forward with the winning ticket, but we have had lots of inquiries and the potential for more claims.”

If none of the claims pan out, it will be the largest unclaimed prize in California Lottery history.