2008-06-23 23:51:07 -

www.calottery.com/ - There are hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize winnings from California Lottery tickets that remain unclaimed. Two of the larger, outstanding tickets were sold in Los Angeles.

The tickets were each purchased two months ago for $1 and hit the first five of six numbers in the MEGA Millions game during separate draws.

The draws for MEGA Millions happen every Tuesday and Friday nights. Tomorrow night's top prize is worth $25 million.

The tickets were purchased within days of each other at separate authorized California Lottery retailers in Los Angeles. They are worth $176,623 and $184,196.

The first was purchased April 22nd at Colfax Liquor at 11710 Riverside Drive. The winning numbers were 22, 48, 3, 31, 54 and the Mega number was 9. The other ticket was purchased April 25th at Astro Liquor at 10000 South Avalon Boulevard. The winning numbers in that draw were 37, 19, 52, 32, 45 and the Mega number was 41. The unclaimed winning tickets hit all the numbers except the Mega numbers.

Lottery officials always encourage players to sign the back of their tickets, keep tickets in a safe place and contact Lottery officials or visit your local Lottery District Office (www.calottery.com/AboutUs/Locations) as soon as possible.

Less than 2 percent of California Lottery prizes go unclaimed. Most are claimed within the first few days after a draw. Last fiscal year, more than $29 million in prizes went unclaimed.

More than 95 cents of every Lottery dollar is returned to the community in the form of contributions to education, prizes and retail commissions. The California Lottery contributes at least 34 cents of every dollar that players spend on Lottery products to public education and returns more than 50 percent of sales to players in the form of prizes. Since its inception in 1985, the Lottery has contributed more than $20 billion to California schools out of total sales of nearly $55 billion. Retailers benefit too, earning $3.5 billion in compensation since 1985.

www.calottery.com

California State Lottery
Al Lundeen or Cathy Doyle Johnston, 916-324-9639