$1 million Powerball ticket goes unclaimed in Indiana

Jill Disis | The Indianapolis Star

INDIANAPOLIS — One million dollars vanished in an instant Monday.

The clock struck 5 p.m., and it was gone.

The lucky ticket holder had six months to claim the winning Powerball ticket, which was sold at a Circle K in the Louisville, Ky., suburb of Jeffersonville, Ind., for the April 10 drawing.

But Hoosier Lottery officials say no one stepped up before the deadline.

The ticket matched the first five numbers, but not the Powerball number.

The winning numbers for that drawing were 1-36-40-52-53 and Powerball 20.

"It's unusual, but it's not unheard of," Hoosier Lottery spokeswoman Stephanie McFarland said.

About $10 million worth of Hoosier Lottery prize money goes unclaimed every year, she said. That represents about 1.5% of sales.

Indiana's biggest unclaimed winning ticket was a $50 million Powerball jackpot from 2002.

The $1 million from this latest voided ticket will return to the state, McFarland said. An Indiana statute says the money will be shared among firefighter pension funds, teacher retirement funds and a fund to reduce the excise tax on Hoosier vehicle owners.

The Circle K that sold the ticket will still get a cut of the action: about $10,000.

Contributing: The Associated Press