There is a one-year deadline to claim lottery ticket winnings, and a 68-year-old New Jersey man almost missed his $24 million pay day.
Jimmie Smith from East Orange, New Jersey bought a winning lottery ticket in May 2016, and failed to check on it until two days before the money expired, according to New York Lottery.
The retired security officer saw a segment on the news reminding New Yorkers to check their tickets before they lost the winning money, which prompted Smith to rifle through the accumulated pile in his jacket pocket hanging up in his closet.
“I ended up with a stack; a pile of tickets, including the one they were talking about on the news,” he said. “I stood there for a minute thinking, ‘Do I see what I think I see?’ I had to stick my head out of the window and breathe in some fresh air. I was in serious doubt. I really had to convince myself this was real.”
Play #LOTTO, been to TriBeCa? Check your tickets to see if you’re a $24M winner! Your winnings expire on 5/25/17! https://t.co/jMAy3GYlmi pic.twitter.com/qtC0tJcS4c
— New York Lottery (@newyorklottery) May 19, 2017
Smith’s winning number was 05-12-13-22-25-35. He has been buying lottery tickets since the 1960s, he explained, but he never checks them immediately.
NY Gaming Commission
The possibility that he could have discovered the lottery ticket a day late is enough to make me start to break out in hives, but at least this story has a fairytale ending.
“I always told myself, ‘I’ll check them when I have time.’”
