LOS ANGELES — With hours to go and $63 million on the line, the mystery remains: Where's the winning California Lottery ticket and why hasn't somebody cashed it?
Lottery spokesman Alex Traverso said Wednesday that even he wants to know why the SuperLotto Plus winner let six months pass without claiming the prize.
Whatever the reason, it won't be a good enough excuse if the 5 p.m. Thursday deadline passes and nobody produces the ticket at a lottery office. "Unfortunately, the rules are the rules," Traverso said.
The lottery has repeatedly issued statements urging the winner to come forward before the deadline. "We hope they'll turn their house upside down" to find the ticket, Traverso said Wednesday at the Van Nuys office.
Traverso said he had watched people claim "a thousand bucks here, a thousand bucks there ... but nothing for the big one."
"From my perspective, I'm here and it would be pretty much the best thing for me if the winner popped in the door and we'll have a little celebration," Traverso said.
The ticket was sold Aug. 8 at a 7-Eleven store on Lassen Street in the Chatsworth neighborhood. The winning numbers are: 46-1-33-30-16 and the Mega number: 24.
The winner can accept the $63 million in payments spread out over 30 years or accept a much smaller lump sum of $39.9 million (before federal taxes).