Mystery Powerball winner could lose $40 million

The clock is ticking on a mystery West Australian Powerball punter who could join a list of winners who left tens of millions on the table.

Six days after it was announced that one lucky punter secured the bumper win all for themselves, Lotterywest appears to be no closer to finding out the identity of Western Australia’s newest multi-millionaire — $40 million to be exact.

A Lotterywest spokesman said the team was still eagerly awaiting to hear from the mystery Perth Powerball winner.

“It’s still early days, so at this stage we encourage all players who may have purchased a ticket in last week’s Powerball draw, to check it as soon as possible because you could be our latest multi-millionaire,” he said.

However, the waiting game may be far from over, with another WA winner taking 22 months to claim their winning ticket, sold by Willetton Newsagency, in April 2020.

Thankfully, the player was able to take advantage of the 12-month extension for claiming a division one prize, which was in place during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under normal circumstances, players have 12 months from the date of draw to claim their prize.

As the deadline creeps up for Perth’s mystery millionaire to collect their new-found fortune, here’s a list of some of the biggest unclaimed jackpots from around the globe.

Biggest unclaimed jackpots around the world

According to The Lotter, the biggest win left unclaimed is from the UK at £64 million ($AU114,790,400).

Despite numerous appeals throughout 2012, including a billboard campaign to encourage the player to come forward, nobody ever claimed the prize within the 180-day window.

The jackpot was handed to the National Lottery Good Causes which donates unclaimed money to UK charities.

In 2011, $US77 million ($AU116,847,269) went unclaimed after the unassuming winner bought the ticket at a truck stop in Tallapoosa, Georgia.

This missed jackpot became the state’s biggest unclaimed jackpot since Georgia’s lottery was established in 1993.

In 2002, a ticket bought in Queens, New York worth $US68 million ($AU103,142,060) also went unclaimed.

The following year a man named Fritzner Bechette came forward claiming to be the winner and filed a lawsuit saying he had tried to redeem his prize since it was announced.

However, an investigation couldn’t reveal a ticket matching the description in New York State lottery’s archive or at the place where he claimed he bought it.

Four years later, also in New York, a $US46 million ($AU69,770,500) prize went unclaimed with the money returned to the state’s prize pool.

Powerball winners don’t always claim their prize. Picture: Supplied by The Lott

Lotterywest is the only State Government-owned Lottery in Australia where all available profits are returned to the WA community.

Last year, $303 million was provided to WA community groups through Lotterywest’s grants program.

In Queensland, people have seven years to claim lottery prizes and in Victoria, people have only six months.

In January, there were 23 unclaimed division one and major lottery prizes across the nation worth almost $25 million.

There were nine unclaimed prizes in both Queensland and New South Wales, two in the ACT and one each in Victoria and South Australia.

This article was originally published by PerthNow and reproduced with permission