Lost lotto ticket costs man $1 million

After lottery officials begin looking for him, he comes forward. But Powerball rules keep him from collecting.

A man who purchased a winning $1-million Powerball ticket kissed his fortune goodbye as the deadline to claim the prize came and went this week.

Why didn’t he claim it? Pretty simple. He lost the ticket.

But he did win a certain amount of sympathy.

“He’s a winner, and you can’t take that away from him,” said Los Angeles resident David Greenberg, who was drinking a cup of coffee outside a convenience store downtown Friday morning. “It’s quite a thing to dream about great wealth, and then to lose it.”

The Powerball player purchased the “lucky” ticket at Rosemead Supermarket in September as the jackpot grew to $149 million. The ticket matched every number — 37, 6, 1, 53 and 16 — in the Sept. 13 drawing, except the Powerball number — 27 — good enough for second prize.

He had 180 days to claim the $1-million winnings, and on Thursday the clock finally ran out. Because Powerball rules require the winner to produce the actual ticket, he was ineligible to collect his winnings, California Lottery spokesman Alex Traverso said.

Lottery officials had tried to identify the man, even distributing surveillance video of him buying the winning ticket in the hope of locating him. One man came forward, saying he was the winner and that he had seen news reports but had lost the ticket.

In a 7-Eleven store at 5th Street and Broadway, a customer yelped Friday when she heard about the man.

“No!” she yelled, shaking her head.

Behind the cash register, Gabriela Chavez, 23, slammed her fist on the counter, her mouth open in disbelief.

“I would cry,” she said. “I would probably punch somebody because I was so mad. I would think about it day and night, in the shower, just thinking about that Powerball ticket.”

As he picked at a justpurchased California Lottery Year of the Ram Scratchers ticket on the sidewalk outside the store, Darl Hayward said he would have torn his house and car apart searching for the ticket.

“You watch,” Hayward said. “He’s going to find it. It’ll be in his wallet or some other place he didn’t look.”

Hayward noted that a person is statistically more likely to be struck by lightning than win the lottery. But losing a winning ticket?

“I’d rather get hit by lightning.”