$1.5B Mega Millions lottery jackpot still unclaimed

If you still have a Mega Millions ticket from October and you bought it in South Carolina, maybe check it again.

There’s a $1.537 billion jackpot still waiting to be claimed.

No one has come forward yet and time is running out as the price must be claimed within 180 days of the drawing — in April the ticket will become worthless.

USA Today spoke with a David Stevenson, a CPA in South Carolina, who said he knows of no reason not to come forward. He wondered if maybe the winner was waiting for 2019 for some tax advantage purpose.

The good news for Pennsylvania and the other 43 states that participate in the lottery is that they would get some money back.

Although South Carolina, where the winner was sold, would lose tax money that it would have collected from the winner’s windfall. State officials estimated the winner would pay $61 million in state income taxes and put that money into the budget, AP reported.

According to Mega Millions website, if the prize is not claimed the money comes back to the states: “each participating state in the Mega Millions game will get back all the money that state contributed to the unclaimed jackpot.”

The winning ticket was sold at the KC Mart in Simpsonville, South Carolina according to lottery officials.

Jee Patel, the manager of KC Mart, told Fox News in November that “lotto tourists” were stopping in to take pictures of the store.

The numbers drawn on October 23 were 5, 28, 62, 65, 70 and Mega Ball 5.