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The California Lottery said on Twitter that a ticket sold in Los Angeles won the $1 billion Powerball jackpot.Jeff Gritchen/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images
A video of a woman claiming to be the winner of the $1.08 billion Powerball ticket was untrue.
If the woman claimed herself as the winner, she would have to go through a lengthy verification process.
The process can take months and involves the assistance of law enforcement.
A day after the California Lottery confirmed that a store in Los Angeles, California sold a $1.08 billion Powerball ticket, an unidentified woman told reporters at the store that the jackpot was hers.
The granddaughter of the shop owner later told Inside Edition that the woman was not actually the winner of the jackpot and that the real winner had not yet come forward.
The woman is far from the only person in history who lied about winning a big lottery prize, but in California a vetting process ensures that not just anyone can claim a prize.
States can already track down where the winning tickets are being sold and use this information to verify ticket holders. Powerball or Mega Millions winners, who have one year to claim their prize, can apply a claim form.
From there, the state begins its lengthy confirmation process.
This confirmation process includes lottery agency and law enforcement personnel, Carolyn Becker, a California Lottery spokesperson, told Nextstar media group. These officials will ask the winners to confirm where the ticket was sold and how many tickets they purchased. Becker told the publication they also verify identities, review security camera footage and analyze the ticket brought in to see if it is a counterfeit.
If someone makes a false claim and is caught during the verification process, they could be prosecuted for felonies.
Sometimes the verification process can take months. It took officials three months to verify Edwin Castro, who won the record-breaking $2.04 billion jackpot in February, as the actual prize winner.
Castro is currently being sued by a man claiming to have stolen the jackpot.
“California Lottery remains confident that Edwin Castro is the rightful winner of the $2.04 billion prize resulting from the November 2022 Powerball drawing,” Becker previously told Insider.
Read the original article Insider
