A $100,000 winner sign at Cold Cuts Express deli, where a $1 million Mega Millions was sold last December, in Valley Stream on Friday. Credit: Morgan Campbell
You may want to look through any crumpled-up papers or trash laying around.
A $1 million unclaimed winning Mega Millions ticket sold in Valley Stream is set to expire on Dec. 13, the New York Lottery announced on Friday.
The second-prize winning Mega Millions ticket was sold at Cold Cut Express at 507 Dubois Ave. and had numbers drawn on Dec. 13, 2024.
The winning numbers were 36-43-52-58-65 and the Mega Ball 16.
Store manager Bobby Patel said the ticket was the only $1 million win he had seen in his 13 years of working at the deli.
"I’m happy for them, my customers," he said in a phone interview on Friday. "People come in to win money."
Lottery tickets are a main source of income for the store, which has a stream of regular customers, Patel said.
"I say to everyone … check your tickets, you have a million dollars?" he recalls telling customers this year.
According to the NY Lottery website, unclaimed prize money is returned to the prize pool and can be used to subsidize prizes for large jackpots, promotions and special one-time games.
Any unclaimed prize money not used to subsidize other games or promotions goes to support public schools, the website said.
Players have exactly one year to claim their wins.
While it is unusual that no one has come forward yet, Patel said he was not surprised.
"Maybe they want to hide it," he said.
Maureen Mullarkey is a breaking news reporter at Newsday. She previously worked as a reporter for Patch, where she covered a range of Long Island stories on topics such as the Diocese of Rockville Centre bankruptcy and the Babylon School District abuse scandals.
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