Since September last year, national lottery operator Ithuba has been waiting for one lucky person to come forward to claim their R23,7 million prize.

The ticket was bought on September 19, 2018, at the Shell Amberfield petrol station in Rooihuiskraal, Centurion. It cost R30, and whoever bought it used the Quick Pick option to have numbers randomly assigned.

That’s a very expensive piece of paper sitting in the bottom of someone’s bag somewhere.

Yup, the winning ticket has yet to be produced, and time really is running out.

Business Insider spoke to Denise Weweje, manager of the Shell Amberfield petrol station, who has put out a notice asking the person who bought the ticket to come forward.

When the winning ticket was announced last year, Weweje assumed the winner claimed the money elsewhere.

“It wasn’t until I saw the notice on the national lottery’s website, this year, that we thought to get involved,” she says.

Petrol attendants have been instructed to ask all motorists to check their cars and homes for the tickets. The petrol station has also posted notes on their Facebook page.

Unfortunately, there’s no video footage that could help to identify the winner.

“We don’t know what else to do further to track this person,” she says.

This is the largest unclaimed amount for a single ticket to date, but Ithuba says a collective R250 million for smaller wins remains unclaimed.

“Players who participate in Lottery games do so in the hope of winning big,” says Khensani Mabuza, Ithuba’s corporate relations executive, in a statement.

The ticket will expire on September 19 this year. If it isn’t claimed, it will be donated to charity.

Check your tickets, people.

And while we’re on the topic, why not expand your horizons and play the lottery worldwide? Some tidy sums of money could be won:

Not bad at all.

Head here to play.

[source:businessinsider]