If you bought Mega Millions lottery ticket in Florida, double-check your numbers. The winning combination for the $450 million jackpot is out there. But no one knows who has it.
The winning ticket was sold at the 7-Eleven in Port Richey, Florida, but so far no one has claimed the life-changing prize from Friday night's drawing, Rachel Vanderwiede, a clerk at the store, told ABC News.
Port Richey is a town of about 3,000 located about 40 miles northwest of Tampa. Vanderwiede said “nobody knows” the identity of the new multi-millionaire, and that everybody is dying to know which one of their neighbors is the owner of the winning ticket — or if a lucky passerby is holding the winning numbers.
“It’s driving everyone nuts,” Vanderwiede told ABC News. “They wanna know why [the winner] hasn’t come forward.”
"I really do hope it was one of our locals — someone that comes in on a regular basis and, hopefully, deserves it very much," Vanderwiede said, estimating that about 80 percent of her customers at the 7-Eleven are regulars.
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In case you bought a ticket at the store, here are the winning numbers: 28, 30, 39, 59, 70 and a Mega Ball of 10. It’s the fourth-largest Mega Millions jackpot in the game’s history.
Having a winner means a lot to the owner of the 7-Eleven as well: they’ll be paid $100,000 for selling the ticket.
The winner has 180 days after the drawing to claim their prize. However, in order to get the one-time lump sum cash option, which comes to a cool $281.2 million, the winner must file their claim within 60 days. The clock is ticking.
However, it's apparently not unusual for a big winner to take a little time to come forward. Don Creley, the district manager of the Florida State Lottery, told ABC News Monday, that it's actually "quite unusual" for a winner to claim the prize in the first few days after the drawing.
Whoever it is will be travel to Florida’s capital of Tallahassee to file the claim at the district office, Creley told ABC News. He said winners typically get their money within 24 hour of filing the claim. Once the person comes forward, officials will release their name, age and city of residence.
“This is gonna be great for the store, great for publicity, great for customer service,” Vanderwiede said.
Now all they need is for the winner to step forward and claim the mega prize.
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