DOWN THE DRAIN

California Woman Says She Left $26M Lottery Ticket in Her Pants and Destroyed It in the Wash

The massive California lottery prize was matched to a ticket sold in November, but no one came forward to claim it.

A woman in California says she’s living every lottery player’s nightmare—winning an enormous jackpot, then discovering that the ticket has been reduced to a pulp at the bottom of her washing machine. According to ABC News, a $26 million California lottery prize was matched to a ticket sold in November, but no one came forward to claim it. The owner of the store where the ticket was sold said that a distraught woman visited the premises Wednesday to tell them that she left the ticket in her pants and then unwittingly destroyed it on her next laundry day. Security footage from the store reportedly shows that the woman bought the ticket, and staff have given that video to lottery officials who are weighing up the claim. If the prize goes unclaimed, the money will go to the public school system.