Man Finds Misplaced Lottery Ticket Worth $9M Just in the Nick of Time

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March 24, 2011
Chicago-
If Irving Przyborski hadn’t prepared his tax returns a little early this year, a $9 million winning Lotto ticket would have gone unclaimed.

A year ago, Przyborski was putting his tax papers into a file. Somehow the Lotto ticket he bought at his neighborhood 7-Eleven slipped into the folder, said Lottery spokesman Tracy Owens. Przyborski didn’t even miss it.

It wasn’t until he reopened the file this month to do his taxes that he found the ticket: 5-20-31-34-50-51. Przyborski contacted an attorney, who in turn called the Lottery on March 15 to claim the prize, Owens said.

Just in time. The ticket was due to expire one year from the date of the drawing. That would have been at 5 p.m. today.

“We never get this close to a ticket this large going unclaimed,” Owens said. “This would have been the largest unclaimed ticket we’ve ever had by far.”

Unclaimed prize money goes back to the state’s education fund.

Przyborski couldn’t be reached for comment.

Even if he hadn’t claimed the ticket, the store where he bought it — a 7-Eleven at 107th Street and Ewing Avenue on the Southeast Side — still would have received its 1 percent bonus, Owens said. That’s $90,000.