An Orange County man claims to be the winner of a $44 million Powerball jackpot, but weeks after the drawing, he still hasn’t received a penny.
Jerry often likes to play the lottery.
“Fantasy 5, Powerball… Super Lotto, Mega… I play all the games,” he said.
Before the Powerball drawing on Aug. 19, he went to his local Ralph’s and bought a lottery ticket with his favorite numbers. All five numbers he picked for the Powerball, including number 10, were tied.
“It was exciting in a really subtle way, because you don’t expect to hit all six. When you get six Powerball numbers, you’re more likely to die before that. , you’ll walk out and be struck by lightning.” You win at that,” he said.
But more than nine weeks later, Jerry is still waiting for payment.
“This process is really terrible for winners of big lottery prizes,” he said. “They don’t say you’ll receive the funds by this date. They won’t tell you that. They leave it open-ended, so you end up sitting and waiting every day… (Hope you do) Get these funds.
Carolyn Becker of the California Lottery said it can take up to four weeks for a winner to receive their prize, but that doesn’t happen often.
The California Lottery did not comment specifically on Jerry’s claims, but said anyone who claims to have a winning ticket must go through a lengthy vetting process. This includes an investigation by law enforcement teams to ensure that the alleged winner does not owe any taxes or child support to the state.
Lottery officials said the goal is to complete each case in six to eight weeks, but it could take longer.
“Believe it or not, the California Lottery processes more than 10,000 claims each month, so we want to meet the expectations of our winners,” Becker added.
Jerry remains hopeful that sooner or later the winnings from that $44 million jackpot will be deposited into this bank account so he can start enjoying the life-changing sum.
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