What’s the latest on that unclaimed $1 million Powerball win in Charlotte?

The $1 million won in Charlotte Wednesday by some lucky Powerball player remains unclaimed, says the state.

North Carolina officials suggest Mecklenburg County Powerball players check their tickets.

The ticket was for Wednesday’s Powerball, which had a $460 million jackpot. It was purchased at the 7 Eleven on Sam Roper Drive, which is near the intersection of interstates 77 and 485 in north Charlotte.

If you have the winning ticket, you have 180 days to claim your prize, but why wait.

Folks in three surrounding counties also got lucky Wednesday. Tickets worth $50,000 were purchased at the following sites: Murphy USA on Lincolnton Highway in Cherryville (Gaston County); Speedway on N.C. 16 in Denver (Lincoln County) and Run-In on Elkin Highway in North Wilkesboro (Wilkes County).

The Gaston Gazette reported Friday that Justin Sanford of Cherryville claimed the $50,000 ticket purchased at the Murphy USA store. He was described as a regular customer of the store.

As of Friday afternoon, the state had not revealed names of the other two $50,000 winners. The winning numbers were 2-18-37-39-42 for the white balls and 12 for the red Powerball

A report published Friday by CNN noted its possible the money may never be claimed. There were 167 prizes worth $1 million or more that went unclaimed in fiscal 2017 alone. Experts believe the money is forgotten because players don’t realize there are secondary prizes in Powerball. Others simply don’t bother to check their tickets once they’ve heard there was no jackpot winner, reported CNN.

It could also be a matter of the ticket being lost, experts say.

The winning Charlotte ticket beat the odds of one in 11.7 million, officials said. The people who won the $50,000 tickets beat the odds of one out of 913,129.

On Tuesday, Marion Nellum of Rocky Mount was the first $1 million winner of 2018. Nellum purchased the Big Money Super Ticket at the EP Mart in Rocky Mount the Saturday before Christmas, said state lottery officials.

“I was feeling sorry for myself because my holiday vacation request got denied,” according to a statement from Nellum, who works in customer service. “I decided I was going to spoil myself and get a scratch-off ticket.”

When Nellum scratched the ticket, she couldn’t believe it.

“I had to take it home and get the magnifying glass to make sure I was reading it right,” Nellum said.

She claimed the prize Tuesday, state officials said.

This story was originally published January 4, 2018 at 1:54 PM with the headline "What’s the latest on that unclaimed $1 million Powerball win in Charlotte?."