California Woman Destroyed $26 Million Lotto Ticket In The Washing Machine

A woman in California says she won a $26 million lottery…but she accidentally destroyed the winning ticket while doing some laundry.

Source: Smith Collection/Gado / Getty

According to reports from the Whittier Daily News, an employee at an ARCO AM/PM convenience store–where the winning SuperLotto Plus ticket was purchased six months ago–said a woman came in on Wednesday claiming that she bought the winning ticket, but she accidentally left it in her pants when she did her laundry.

A spokeswoman for the California Lottery Center, Cathy Johnston, told the publication that at least six people turned in non-ticket claims to her office. Unfortunately for those folks–if any of them actually did buy the winning numbers–to win the jackpot, you must have “compelling substantial proof you were in possession of the ticket,” Johnston said.

While the manager of store told KTLA-TV that the store had surveillance video of the woman who bought the ticket, Johnston said the store’s footage was inadmissible. That footage can’t be used as proof because the store’s cameras were not owned by the lottery center and couldn’t necessarily prove which ticket the woman purchased.

The deadline to collect the big prize passed on Thursday. If the huge payday is never claimed, almost $20 million of it–the cash option–will be invested into public schools in California. According to a press release from the California Lottery Center, the school system has received more than $1 billion in unclaimed lottery prizes since its inception.

Welp, at least the unclaimed funds are going to a good cause.