Unclaimed $1M lottery ticket set to expire in N.Y.

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RYE, N.Y. — The mystery of who bought a Powerball ticket worth $1 million at a local deli nearly a year ago is giving new meaning to the New York Lottery slogan, "Hey, You Never Know."
 
The unknown ticketholder has until Aug. 25 to emerge; otherwise the money will go into a prize pool for future winners.
 
Ralph Alfalahi, whose Playland Market in Rye sold the winning ticket, has been reminding customers to check their old stubs.
 
He's even placed a sign outside his deli with the lucky numbers: "1-6-7-20-49, Powerball 23."
 
"I have no idea who it is," Alfalahi said. "I wish I knew."
 
It's hard to imagine how anybody could leave $1 million on the table. But New York Lottery spokeswoman Christy Calicchia says missed winnings are far more common than one would think.
 
Some players lose the ticket, put it through the wash or forget they ever bought it, Calicchia said. Some don't realize there's more than one drawing prize. Others lose interest when there's no jackpot.
 
In just the last four months, winners statewide have failed to claim nearly $28 million in drawing-game prizes before they expired.
 
Last year, there were more than $65 million in expired winnings.
 
Calicchia noted the unclaimed $65 million represented just 1.5 percent of the state lottery's $4.2 billion in overall prize money last year.
 
Still, lottery officials don't take it lightly when a large prize goes unclaimed.
 
"We use the news media, social media and any other means possible to publicize the fact" that it hasn't been claimed yet and "encourage players to check their tickets," Calicchia said.
 
The Rye ticket isn't the only big winner yet to be claimed in the region. Lottery officials are also waiting for the buyer of a $1 million Sweet Million ticket to step forward after a Jan. 24 drawing. The ticket was sold at M & M Super Store in Suffern.
 
The New York Lottery's biggest unclaimed prize was a $68 million Mega Millions jackpot announced in a 2002 Christmas Eve drawing for a ticket sold in Brooklyn.
 
The Rye prize, at $1 million, would be the Lower Hudson Valley's biggest expired ticket, according to Calicchia.
 
The odds of winning: 1 in 5,153,633.
 
After state and federal taxes, the take-home pay would be an estimated $662,000.
 
And that's nothing to sneeze at — even in Rye, which was just ranked 10th in the nation on CNN Money's Top-Earning Towns list.
 
"In this town, maybe that's a new boat or something," quipped Marcus Peters, who moved to Rye from Rutherford, N.J., earlier this month and rarely plays Lotto.
 
Another Rye resident, Tom Turner, seemed eager to know the exact time and date the ticket was sold.
 
He spends about $10 a day on lottery games at Playland Market and keeps a large stack of old Powerball tickets at home — just in case.
 
"It would be exciting" to win $1 million, Turner said Tuesday while playing a $5 scratch-off game. "It's free money. Everybody loves free money."
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