Lottery Ticket Sold in South County Still Not Cashed In, Worth $2.6M

Two months in, and a Mega Millions lottery ticket worth more than $2.6 million and purchased in southern San Diego County still hasn't been claimed, state lottery officials said today.

The ticket was bought at Square Bottle Liquor at 21 Naples St. in Chula Vista for the Dec. 17 drawing, in which the Mega Millions jackpot was $648 million.

The ticket didn't match all the numbers, but hit on 8, 20, 14, 17 and 39. Only the Mega number of 7 was missed.

Whoever bought the ticket has six months to claim the prize or the money is turned over to education. Lottery officials said people often wait to make their claim so they can get their financial affairs in order, or sometimes tuck their tickets in a drawer and forget about them.

One other ticket matching five of the six numbers was purchased locally for the Dec. 17 drawing, with the prize shared by two San Diego women. The big jackpot ended up being split by people who bought winners in San Jose and in Georgia.

—City News Service