Where are you? Million-dollar Powerball ticket purchased in Airway Heights remains unclaimed

A winner has yet to claim a $1 million Powerball ticket that was purchased in November in Airway Heights.

The news comes after Powerball announced Monday a winning ticket was purchased in Auburn, Washington, valued at more than $750 million. That prize is the fifth-largest Powerball jackpot and ninth-largest U.S. lottery jackpot ever.

The Airway Heights Powerball ticket was purchased at the Maverik gas station in Airway Heights on Nov. 7, according to Washington’s Lottery website.

The tickets expire if they are not claimed within 180 days. After that, the prize money goes to the Washington Opportunity Pathways Account, a state fund that supports Washington schools, scholarships and education opportunities.

The Airway Heights ticket expires on May 6. The Auburn ticket expires on Aug. 5.

The Auburn winner purchased the ticket at a Fred Meyer at 801 Auburn Way North.

There are a couple of reasons why people don’t claim their prizes immediately, said Kristi Weeks, director of legal services at Washington’s Lottery.

“One, they don’t realize they won. They threw away their ticket, they lost their ticket, they realized they didn’t win a gigantic prize and just didn’t realize there were smaller prizes, or some form of negligence,” Weeks said. “The other chance is that when it’s a larger prize like that, it’s that there is a person getting their affairs in order.”

Generally speaking, winners seek legal and financial counsel before they claim their prize, Weeks said.

“We encourage that,” she said.

Often, winners will pursue a status as a corporation or trust before claiming the prize in an effort to lessen the taxes that come with it. In Washington, they are generally claimed by winners as individuals.

Sometimes winners claim their prize the next day, she said.

“The larger the prize, the longer it generally takes,” she said.

Final ticket sales on Monday pushed the jackpot to $754.6 million, Powerball said in a Tuesday release.

Additionally, three winning tickets in New York and two in Michigan also won $1 million prizes on Monday. One winning ticket in Texas won $2 million. The Monday drawing was the first winning jackpot of the year.

A $2 billion Powerball jackpot, the world record, was won on Nov. 7 in California. That prize also remains unclaimed.

Fifty-eight tickets across the country won $50,000 prizes and 16 won $100,000 prizes on Monday as well. In total, more than 1.7 million tickets won cash prizes that totaled $21.1 million on Monday, Powerball said.

However, the odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million.

The Powerball winner can choose between a lump sum of $407.2 million or an annuity of 30 annual payments that increase 5% each year.