Lottery Winner is Mere Hours from Becoming Record-Setting Loser

With time running out for a winner to claim a $63 million SuperLotto Plus prize, a man who says he purchased the winning ticket but had it rejected by the California Lottery filed a lawsuit today alleging he is being wrongfully denied the jackpot.

Lottery officials said this week the holder of the winning ticket must come forward by the end of business Thursday, or the $63 million jackpot will be forfeited, making it the largest California Lottery jackpot ever to be forfeited.

In California, no one has ever come forward to collect a winning jackpot after the deadline has passed, said California Lottery Deputy Director Russ Lopez.

“It’s an odd situation,” he said.

Lottery officials said the winning ticket was purchased in Chatsworth for the Aug. 8, 2015, drawing and has all of the winning numbers: 46, 1, 33, 30, 16 and Mega number 24.

In a Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit filed today, Brandy Milliner claims he purchased the winning ticket on Aug. 8, and after the draw, lottery officials confirmed that only one winning ticket had been sold -- in Los Angeles County.

Lopez said the lottery hasn’t yet been served with the lawsuit.

“No has tried to claim the jackpot that I know of,” he said. “We pay out 60 million a week on average, so we have a lot of claims. We are looking at out backlogs of claims to see if anyone tried to claim it.”

The lottery employs veteran law-enforcement officials to investigate the validity of every jackpot winning ticket, he added.

“There were so many hoaxes, so many photoshopped tickets, so many claims,” said Lopez. “Anybody can make a claim. The bottom line is: is it truthful? Did they purchase ticket? Is that the true original ticket with the true original numbers? We conduct a full and thorough investigation on all major jackpot wins.”

Milliner claims he presented the ticket to the Lottery Commission within the claim period and was given a form congratulating him on his winnings and explaining that he would receive a check in six to eight weeks from the state Controller’s Office, the suit states.

However, in January, Milliner received a letter from the commission stating that after a review of his ticket, the agency determined it to be “too damaged to be reconstructed,” the suit states.

The letter cited a section of the California Lottery Act that explained the commission was unable to process Milliner’s claim, the suit states.

Milliner alleges the commission has “interfered” with his prize by withholding the ticket, refusing to return it and refusing to award him the grand prize.

“Subsequent to the draw, the plaintiff has properly and repeatedly demanded payment of the prize,” the suit states. “To date, however, the (commission has) refused to pay the prize.”

The previous largest jackpot that has ever gone unclaimed was $28.5 million for a SuperLotto Plus ticket sold in Alameda County in 2003.

If the jackpot goes unclaimed, the money will be directed toward state schools, lottery officials said.

The winning ticket was sold at the 7-Eleven store at 20871 Lassen St. in Chatsworth. If the winner takes a lump sum payment, he or she would receive $39.9 million before taxes.

Related: Excuse Me, Did You Leave $63 Million on the Table in Chatsworth?

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.