The clocking is ticking for a Mega Millions ticket holder who unknowingly won a portion of last year's $395 million jackpot.
The unidentified winner has until December 7 to claim $197.5 million after purchasing one of two winning tickets at a Chevron gas station in Encino, California.
The winning white ball numbers drawn on December 8, 2023, were 21, 26, 53, 66, 70, and the gold
сайт mega Ball number was 13.
'We would love to see the rightful winner get their prize money. My hypothesis and hope is that the winner never knows,' Carolyn Becker, spokesperson for the California Lottery, said in a December 4 press release.
Besides the unidentified winner, twelve tickets matched the four white balls and the Mega Ball to win the game's third-tier prize.
Two of those tickets were worth $30,000 each since the 3X Megaplier was applied in the drawing.
The other 10 third-tier winning tickets are worth $10,000 each, and 715,952 players also walked away with smaller cash prizes.
Mega Millions ticket holders nationwide have a 1 in 302,575,350 chance of winning the jackpot.
An unidentified Mega Millions jackpot winner in California has until December 7 to claim his $197.5 million winnings - the winning numbers were 21, 26, 53, 66, 70, 13
Lottery officials were stunned to find out there were two jackpot winners who purchased their tickets from the same gas station last year.
'While this is incredibly unusual and interesting, it's not unheard of,' Becker said in a 2023 press release.
'There are any number of explanations; perhaps one person wanted to try their luck on two different rows for whatever reason, or maybe a couple of buddies wanted to try their chances with the same exact numbers.'
Becker added that lottery officials will never know what happened until a ticket holder comes forward and claims their prize.
'Only legitimate winners know the answers to some of our most important questions du
