A winning $10 million lottery ticket sold at a convenience store on Rockville Pike in North Bethesda last year expired on Monday and will be forever unclaimed.
Following the Sept. 27 Powerball Double Play drawing, Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency announced that the winning ticket had been sold to a customer at the Exxon at 11433 Rockville Pike.
Lottery winners have 182 days from the date of the drawing to claim their ticket before it expires, lottery spokesman Seth Elkin told Bethesda Beat Monday afternoon. No one claimed the prize by the 4 p.m. deadline on Monday, he said.
Maryland launched Powerball Double Play in August, which is the second drawing that occurs 30 minutes after each Powerball drawing, according to the lottery’s website. People can buy Powerball tickets for $2 and add a Double Play option for $1 more.
Double Play contestants can win up to $10 million by matching the first five numbers (1 to 69), then the Powerball number (1 to 26). The odds of matching all six numbers are about 1 in 292 million.
The Sept. 27 drawing was the first time someone won the top prize since Double Play was started in August, according to the lottery.
Elkin said Monday that it’s rare for such a large prize to go unclaimed.
“It happens very infrequently with a big winner. By far, most of the unclaimed prizes that occur are for much smaller amounts,” he said.
Elkin said the $10 million in unclaimed money will go into the lottery’s unclaimed prize fund, as per state law. The fund is used for other lottery prizes, he said.
Elkin encourages people who buy lottery tickets to always check them to see if they won. That can be done using a free mobile app, he said.
Dan Schere can be reached at daniel.schere@moco360.media
