Woman nearly loses $500,000 Cash 5 prize with just 19 days left to claim
Lost lottery tickets are quite common as these other winners found out. Dena Thompson (left) dived into a dumpster to find a lost ticket, and the Seidens (right) lost their $1 million Mega Millions ticket, but both were found in time.
With just 19 days to go to the 180-day expiry limit, Ana Maya found her lost winning Cash 5 lottery ticket in the nick of time.
Ana, 32, from Graham city in the US state of North Carolina, lost her ticket during a house move.
The customer service worker told the North Carolina Education Lottery she was in the process of moving to a new house when she won, so she packed the winning ticket in one of her moving boxes.
When she started unpacking, the half-million dollar ticket was missing.
Maya said, “These last couple of months have been very stressful trying to find it I totally forgot where I put it!”
She had bought her lucky Cash 5 Quick Pick ticket for the Sep. 6 drawing.
Ana Maya claimed her prize on Wednesday at the NC Education Lottery headquarters in Raleigh, and took home $346,005. PHOTO: Google Maps
Luckily Maya found the life-changing ticket in time on 15th February, with the expiration date of 6th March looming ahead.
Ana finally found the ticket in one of her old notebooks from high school where she had put it for safekeeping.
Ana Maya purchased her lucky ticket from Huff’s Interstate on Maple Avenue in Burlington.
Maya said she wants to set some money aside for her two small children, pay some bills, invest some, and take a nice vacation.