Powerball player misplaces winning ticket for months in her car. ‘Is it still valid?’

For months, a winning Powerball ticket sat in an Arkansas woman’s car, collecting dust.

So when she found it, more than five months after the August drawing, she had one important question.

“Is it still valid?” she asked.

It was, meeting the deadline by just a few weeks, Arkansas Lottery officials said in a Feb. 11 news release. Now, the woman is celebrating her $100,000 win — one she almost missed out on.

The Jonesboro woman purchased her ticket from a convenience store ahead of the Aug. 31 drawing. It was part of her “monthly lottery playing routine,” lottery officials said, but her routine likely didn’t include losing the ticket for months.

When she found it Feb. 8, it had been 161 days since the drawing. Luckily for her, winners have 180 days to claim their prizes.

Finding out she won the $100,000 prize, however, wasn’t quite as easy. Her husband scanned the ticket at a local retailer, but he only received a claim to go to lottery headquarters to collect their prize.

“Well, I guess we won over $500,” he said, according to lottery officials.

Learning she won such a significant prize left the winner “in shock,” she said.

The winning numbers of the Aug. 31 drawing were 4, 34, 35, 38 and 69 with the Powerball number 19.

The winner said she plans to pay off debt with her winnings.

Jonesboro is about a 130-mile drive northeast from Little Rock.

This story was originally published February 11, 2025 at 12:16 PM with the headline "Powerball player misplaces winning ticket for months in her car. ‘Is it still valid?’."