$2.5M winning lotto ticket expires

SOUTHPORT, Ind. (WISH) - A $2.5 million winning lottery ticket expired Friday evening. The ticket was purchased on the south side of Indianapolis.

Six months ago, someone bought a ticket at the Meijer on Southport Road that would have made them a millionaire. A Hoosier Lotto ticket for the August 19 drawing hit the jackpot.

Friday at 5 p.m. was the 180-day deadline to claim the prize. While shopping at the store, Barbara Lock reacted to the realization that the multi-millions would go unclaimed.

"The good news is that they don't realize it, so they don't know what they're missing," she said.

Many at the store Friday had a theory about what happened.

Melanie Steiner said, "I think it could be somebody with short-term memory loss. Or somebody with a lot of kids and it got lost in the parking lot."

Some, like Charlie Cress, were sympathetic.

He said, "It's sad for somebody. Well, for all of us, really. If somebody gets a winner we like to see 'em cash it in," he said.

Others were not so sympathetic.

"If they're not smart enough to check their tickets, then that's their bad luck," said shopper Becky Vermillion.

The winning ticket was sold actually a few hundred feet from the main store at the Meijer gas station.

The Meijer store manager said he's had dozens of people ask him if they have surveillance tape from the day the ticket was sold. They wanted to see if they happened to buy it. But, as he pointed out, it really wouldn't matter. You need the ticket to collect the jackpot.

Now, the money will go into the unclaimed prize fund to be used for future games and promotions.

Even though no one claimed the $2.5 million prize, Meijer will get its bonus for selling the ticket. They'll collect one percent of the jackpot: $25,000.

This is the third multi-million dollar unclaimed jackpot in the 20-year history of the lottery. Just selling a winning ticket can help a retailer get more business even if no one claims the prize.