A Florida resident won $44 million in the lottery, but never came to claim the money: now the state will take it for itself

In Florida, the owner of the winning lottery ticket did not come to collect his money. The jackpot was $44 million, reports USAToday.

Photo: IStock

Over the past few months, Jamie Barreto has seen people at a nearby gas station rummaging through trash cans and picking up crumpled tickets from the ground. Standing in line for a pack of cigarettes, he watched them plead with the staff.

“Can you check the cameras? I’m telling you it was me,” one man pleaded with the seller.

At Sunoco Express in Kissimmee, less than 32 miles from the Disney World Resort, customers were mesmerized by the search for an orange and pink strip of paper with the numbers 9, 13, 15, 46, 51 and 52. Florida Lottery ticket numbers sold at the store. matched the winning numbers in the June 14 state drawing. Jackpot: $44 million.

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“I don’t blame them... I was looking too, man,” Barreto, 41, said. “That kind of money can change anyone’s life.”

"Winning ticket sold here"

The Sunoco Express store where the coveted Quick-Pick ticket was purchased the day before the drawing is virtually unknown to the millions of tourists who visit nearby Orlando theme parks and luxury shopping centers each year. It sits between auto repair shops across the street from a mobile home park. Many of the surrounding houses are dilapidated, and people often sleep under a pair of wooden benches on the side of the convenience store.

Shortly after the winning numbers were announced, the gas station owner hung white signs around the store that read, in bold red letters, “WINNING TICKET SOLD HERE.” As months passed without anyone claiming the prize, the multimillion-dollar mystery became the central topic of conversation in and outside the store.

Jeff Bays, 62, comes into the store every week to buy Powerball tickets. Bays, a self-described “conservative gambler,” said he received calls from friends who heard about the winning jackpot ticket sold in Kissimmee.

“I wasn’t the lucky one,” he replied. “Obviously I’m not the guy who won.”

Unclaimed winnings

An unclaimed jackpot is rare. Since the Florida Lottery launched in 1988, there have been 30 unclaimed jackpots ranging from $1,2 million to $66 million, said Michelle Griner, an agency spokeswoman, adding that there are about 166 lottery drawings each year.

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In New York, only three jackpots have expired since the state began selling Mega Millions in 2002. The largest unclaimed Powerball jackpot was sold in 2011 in Georgia. The total prize amount was $77 million annuity, or $40,83 million.

According to historian Jonathan Cohen, author of For a Dollar and a Dream: State Lotteries in Modern America, Americans spend more than $90 billion on the lottery every year.

Who plays the lottery and why

Cohen wrote in The Washington Post that the players who spend the most of their income on lottery tickets and play the most often are men, low-income, less educated and non-white.

The lottery, he said, appeals to Americans who have lost faith in the traditional economic ladder but have not given up on the dream of getting rich.

“Almost every American has a better chance of moving up the class ladder through work or entrepreneurship than winning Mega Millions. The chance is one in 302 million,” he said. “But especially in communities facing disinvestment in the public and private sectors and ongoing police violence, many people may feel they have no chance in the mainstream economy. In their opinion, the lottery gives at least some chance.”

The $44 million Sunoco Express ticket expired on December 12 at 00:00 am.

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After months of frantic searching and failed plans, no one showed up at Florida Lottery headquarters in Tallahassee with the coveted ticket to claim their fortune. Tickets are considered "expired" if no one claims the prize within 180 days.

The lottery confirmed that the money will go back to the state: 80% will be used to fund the state's education programs and the rest will go back into the prize pool for future drawings.

"Whoever won this ticket probably really needs the money," said Jose "Cheo" Lopez, a tire technician who often stops at Sunoco Express on his way home from work. - What a pity".

Lopez, 35, has lived and worked in Kissimmee since he and his family moved there from Puerto Rico in the early 2000s. A car and street racing enthusiast, he hopes to one day open his own garage.

He said he doesn't count on winning a Powerball or Mega Millions ticket because, in his words, "there's no point, the odds are against you."

After buying a bottle of Fireball Cinnamon whiskey and receiving a $1 discount, he said, “I’ll keep what I earned.”

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