Wisconsin Lottery Officials Continue Search for Missing Powerball Winner
Thursday July 27th 2017Powerball officials are stepping up the hunt to find a mystery Powerball winner from Wisconsin who could be about to miss out on a jackpot worth $155.2 million. With a little over 60 days left for the victor to come forward, could lottery fans be forced to sit back and witness a rarity in the multi state game - a top prize going unclaimed?
Ever since the Powerball first launched in 1992, numbers have been drawn, tickets have been checked and winners have collected their multi-million dollar prizes - the system was simple. That was until the drawing on Wednesday June 29th 2011 when a ticket holder from Georgia broke the cycle by failing to collect their winnings. The missing millionaire made national news and was the talk of the Peach State as residents struggled to get their head round the concept of an unclaimed jackpot.
Including the missing Georgian ticket holder, only two Powerball jackpot prizes have gone unclaimed, with a player from Florida failing to materialize to collect a third of a $50 million prize in 2013. Now, there could be another player about to join the unlucky duo in passing up on a colossal sum of money.
Wisconsin lottery officials have been desperately trying to get the word out in their efforts to answer the $155.2 million question. What is known is that the winner, who defied odds of 1 in 292,201,338, purchased their ticket from a gas station in Pewaukee, a city in the south-east of the Badger State, and has until Monday September 18th to make contact with lottery headquarters in Madison.
It had been hoped that the mystery winner could be identified using video surveillance from the gas station, however, this idea was soon quashed by Nicole Anspach of the Wisconsin Department of Revenue: “The lottery does not know who the winner is,” she told USA TODAY. “It would be irresponsible to assume the identity of the winner based (on) surveillance footage. For security purposes, the lottery does not release images or videos obtained from readers.”
As the search for the Wisconsin lottery winner continues, Powerball players across the game’s other states and jurisdictions will be desperately hoping to land this Saturday’s $239 million jackpot. If you would like to add this sum to your bank account, you can pick your numbers online or player through any authorized retailer. Good luck!
Latest News