The California Lottery tweeted that a ticket sold in Los Angeles won the multi-billion dollar 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.
Should the woman call herself a winner, she would have to endure a lengthy verification process.
The process can take months and requires the assistance of law enforcement officials.
A day after the California lottery confirmed that a Los Angeles, California store had sold a $1.08 billion Powerball ticket, an unidentified woman told reporters at the store that the jackpot was hers.
The shopkeeper’s granddaughter later told Inside Edition that the woman wasn’t actually the winner of the jackpot and that the actual winner hadn’t come forward yet.
The woman is far from the only person in history to have cheated into winning a major lottery prize, but in California, a verification process ensures not everyone can claim a prize.
States can now determine where winning tickets are being sold and use that information to verify ticket holders. Powerball or Mega Millions winners who have one year to claim their prize may submit a claim form.
From there, the state begins its lengthy endorsement process.
Lottery agencies and law enforcement officials are involved in that confirmation process, Carolyn Becker, a spokeswoman for the California Lottery, told Nexstar Media Group. These officials will ask winners to confirm where the ticket was sold and how many tickets they bought. Becker told the publication that they also verify identities, look at surveillance camera footage and analyze the ticket they brought to see if it was a fake.
If someone submits a false claim and is caught during the verification process, they may be subject to a criminal offense.
Sometimes the verification process can take months. It took three months for officials to determine that Edwin Castro, who won the record-breaking $2.04 billion jackpot in February, was the actual prizewinner.
Castro is currently being sued by a man who claims he stole the jackpot.
“California Lottery remains confident that Edwin Castro is the legitimate winner of the $2.04 billion prize from the November 2022 Powerball drawing,” Becker previously told Insider.
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