A lottery player sitting on a $14.6 million jackpot had until the end of Monday to come forward in Arizona — or lose it all, officials said. The winner never showed up.
Monday's 5 p.m. deadline came and went and officials still don't know who purchased the ticket, they said.
"It's hard to see that not get claimed," Arizona lottery spokeswoman Jacqueline Keidel Martinez told NBC News on Monday evening.
The ticket holder nailed all six numbers of an in-state game, The Pick, on June 5 setting a 180-day clock for that winning ticket to be claimed.
The jackpot sets a record for largest unclaimed jackpot, according to John Gilliland, Arizona Lottery spokesperson, who said the previous record was a $4 million The Pick jackpot that was drawn in 1999.
Lottery officials had held out hope that the winner would've come forward by the close of business on Monday.
“There is nothing more exciting for Arizona Lottery than to award a large jackpot, like this $14.6 million prize, so we are always a little sad when we see one of these prizes expire unclaimed,” Arizona Lottery Executive Director Gregg Edgar said in a prepared statement on Monday.
The winning ticket was purchased at the Circle K store at 315 N. Litchfield Road in Goodyear, about 18 miles west of downtown Phoenix. A representative of Circle K's corporate owners in Laval, Quebec, could not be immediately reached for comment on Monday.
Because the winner did not act, the$14.6 million will be used for other games and to fund state programs benefiting abused children and Native American education, officials said.
“These dollars will be utilized now to enhance our player’s experiences with future games and fund a variety of beneficiaries that have tremendous impact for our community," Edgar said.
