Millions of dollars on the line: A lottery winner’s time is running out to claim their prize

Time is running out for a Colorado lottery player to collect a seven-figure check that’s been waiting for them since late last year.

The Colorado Lottery says a ticket bought in a Denver suburb scooped a $2 million prize in a Powerball draw on December 16 - but nobody has come forward to claim the winnings.

The ticket matched all five main Powerball numbers (9-30-33-57-61) to trigger an automatic $1 million prize. This sum was then multiplied by two, as the player in question had paid extra to activate the lottery’s Power Play option.

Where was the Powerball ticket bought?

The Colorado Lottery says the winning ticket was purchased at a Safeway fuel station on S. Havana Street in Aurora, Colorado.

Deadline coming up next week

According to the Centennial State’s lottery commission, players have 180 days after jackpot draws to claim their winnings. This means the $2 million Powerball prize must be collected by Saturday, June 14.

“Colorado has thousands of unclaimed prizes every year. Most of those are smaller prizes like $1 or $2,” the body says.

“If we have a larger prize that is about to expire, we will try to alert the media and post on our social media pages to hopefully find the rightful winner.”

The Colorado Lottery adds that unclaimed prize money “goes into the fund for our proceeds beneficiaries”.

How much does Powerball cost to play?

A lottery whose draws are held three times a week, Powerball costs $2 per ticket, plus an additional $1 for the Power Play option.

To play, participants must pick five numbers from 1 to 69, and a Powerball number from 1 to 26. To win the jackpot - which has at times rolled over to more than $1 billion - you need to correctly guess all six numbers.

Progressively smaller prizes, ranging from seven to single figures, are available to players who get fewer numbers right.

What’s the biggest ever Powerball prize?

Available in 45 U.S. states, plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, Powerball was first played in 1992.

The lottery’s record jackpot occurred in November 2022, when a ticket holder in California scooped $2.04bn rolled-over prize. However, the winner ended up taking home considerably less than this, as they opted to receive their money up front, rather than in instalments.

If you choose to claim your winnings as a lump sum, you are given a smaller amount, which in this case was $997.6m. After tax, the jackpot worked out at $628 million.

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