You’ve Lotto be kidding!
Unclaimed $24M prize expires in a week
Time is running out for a mystery lottery winner to claim a $24 million New York Lotto ticket purchased in Tribeca last year, officials warned Wednesday.
The ticket, worth $24.1 million to be exact, was sold on May 25, 2016, at Renu Corp Grocery & Tobacco at 158 Church St. — and it must be claimed before Thursday, May 25, when it expires.
The six winning numbers were 5-12-13-22-25-35.
Bodega owner Bobby Patel said the jackpot is the largest to originate from his store.
“I just hope they didn’t lose the ticket. I think it is probably lost,” Patel told The Post. “It could even be a tourist. Sometimes tourists come in and buy lottery tickets. They go home. They forget.”
Unlike with Powerball and Mega Millions jackpots, the bodega won’t see the usual $10,000 payout whether or not the winnings are claimed.
Patel said he’s been putting all of his regular customers on alert. “Please check your tickets. It would be a shame for all of that money to go to waste. Please,” he said. “There is only a week left.”
If left unclaimed, the jackpot would be returned to the lottery prize pool.
Lottery fanatic Steven Mabra, who was buying scratch-offs Wednesday at Patel’s store, was floored no one’s come forward.
“After taxes, you’re looking at [about] $12 million,” Mabra, 53, said. “I check [to see if won] the same day. And then I doublecheck after that. Sometimes I triple-check.”
A total of $74 million in New York Lottery prizes went unclaimed in fiscal year 2016-2017.
Massive jackpots have gone unclaimed in New York before. One ticket bought in 2002 was for $68 million and another, the following year, was for $46 million. Both were sold in Brooklyn.
“It’s a crazy thing,” said New York Lottery spokeswoman Carolyn Hapeman. “That’s why you gotta get ’em, sign ’em and put ’em somewhere safe.”
Harlem resident Allen Brunner said he would quit gambling if he missed out on a windfall.
“It would be outrageous to win and you never checked the ticket,” he said. “If that happened to me, I’d never play again.”