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Did you check your lottery ticket? Winner hasn’t claimed $28-million prize yet

A customer picks up her California Powerball lottery tickets at the famous Bluebird Liquor store in Hawthorne in 2016.
A customer picks up her California Powerball lottery tickets at the famous Bluebird Liquor store in Hawthorne in 2016.
(Mark Ralston / AFP/Getty Images)
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Someone is $28-million richer but may not know it yet.

The California Lottery is looking for the winner of a SuperLotto Plus ticket, which was sold at a 7-Eleven store in National City, at 1601 E. 18th St. The ticket matched all winning numbers from Saturday night’s drawing — 3, 9, 23, 27, 35 and Mega number 16.

Though lottery offices are closed to the public because of the coronavirus pandemic, the claim processing periods are not affected, meaning that the winner still has 180 days from the date of the drawing to claim the cash, according to state lottery officials.

“In order to claim a prize, winners must mail their winning ticket and claim form, or the winner may elect to keep the ticket in a secure place and present the claim in person when our nine CA Lottery District Office locations reopen to the public at a later date,” officials wrote in a news release.

The California state controller has also launched a probe into 30,000 scratch-off lottery tickets given to the audience of “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”

The 7-Eleven store that sold the winning ticket will receive a roughly $140,000 commission from the California Lottery. Lottery officials estimate that retailers across California have received more than $7 million per week in bonuses and commissions from the lottery based on sales levels in late March and early April.

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Paul Morrow, the 7-Eleven location’s franchisee, told lottery officials while he’s not sure what he’ll do with the money, the win has helped his business during a difficult time.

“We are in a residential area and even though some stores in our area have closed, we have stayed open to serve our community,” he said in a prepared statement. “Selling lottery products absolutely helps business, no doubt about it.”

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