What is in store for you if you hit the Mega Millions winning numbers?

Check your wallet. Don’t be quick to throw out those crumpled little pieces of paper. Take a closer look and you just might be the owner of the lottery ticket containing the Mega Millions winning numbers.

As reported by NJ.com, the latest draw of its Mega Millions lottery ticket has now reached a reward prize of $323 million, with a cash prize option worth $199 million. It is also the 29th biggest winning in all of the history of U.S. lotteries. It is the 10th largest Mega Millions lottery winning given in over 15 years.

What makes this win interesting is that since the numbers of the draw were announced last Tuesday, no one has claimed the prize yet. The Mega Millions winning numbers were 20, 22, 52, 57, 73 with 7 as the Mega Ball. The jackpot is still waiting for its rightful owner to come forward. On the other hand, if the days do drag on and still no winner in sight, then maybe there was no one at all. The corresponding winning ticket was never bought by anybody and is now waiting among a pile of unbought paper waiting to be thrown to the garbage bin.

The next mega millions winning numbers may be your ticket (Source)

The third scenario sounds to be the most logical because it seems unthinkable and unlikely that any lottery winner will neglect claiming his or her prize, especially if it is worth millions. But unclaimed tickets are not as unusual as we think, and not all of them are unbought. Some of them had been all but forgotten or discarded as soon as their owners bought them.

For example, one winning lottery prize worth $24 million in New York City was left unclaimed for a year, the given grace period for getting the money. As reported by Time, the lottery number was drawn in May of 2016 and as of May 2017, no one as yet has come up to say he owns the money. This particular New York lottery gives a year to claim prizes. Afterward, the money will go back again to the prize pool.

The Birmingham Mail reports that a winning lottery ticket worth £51.7 million drawn from the British National Lottery which is still unclaimed. No one has yet written, called, or emailed to say he is the rightful owner.

Still, no one wants to miss out on an opportunity like this. If a lottery that you always join in announces that its prize money is still waiting unclaimed, empty your wallet and check your ticket stubs. It just might be your lucky day.

(Featured photo by msspider66 via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 2.0)