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American Morning

$46 Million Dollar Lottery Ticket Turns Up

Aired June 15, 2001 - 11:08   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Things are getting curiouser and curiouser in New Jersey. Just when you thought that $46 million Big Game jackpot would go unclaimed, well, lo and behold, the ticket turns up. Believe it or not, it came in the mail to lottery headquarters, not even certified. It arrived after the deadline, but folks, it was postmarked with three days to go. So who's the winner?

Well, we know for certain it's not CNN's Jason Carroll, as he is still standing in front of camera employed by CNN, not at a -- on a warm island right now enjoying life.

Jason, a lot of buzz there. Any speculation on who it might be?

JASON CARROLL, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, lots of speculation, Miles.

And you know me too well because that's exactly where I would be if I had won this super lotto jackpot, just let me tell you. But in just about 20 minutes we're expecting to have a press conference with some of the lotto officials. The winners should be here as well. So hopefully we'll be able to get some more details of exactly what happened here.

But let me give you a little bit of history of how this whole thing unfolded. Someone bought a winning ticket from a convenience store in Montvale, New Jersey. That was about a year ago. That happened on June 9.

Now, if no one claims that ticket within a year, then the ticket is null and void. There's no win. But what happened was on June 7 of this year, that same person had a big stack of lotto tickets, he went to lotto agent and they looked over those tickets and discovered that they did have a winning ticket there. And as you said, he mailed it in. He didn't mail it in by certified mail or registered mail. He just trusted the U.S. postal system. I'm not sure I would have done it that way but he did it that way.

It was postmarked by June 7. He barely made or she barely made the June 9 deadline of this year. And so we do, in fact, have a winner. We're about to find out who exactly that winner is. Hopefully, when they step up, we're going to be able to give you some more details about exactly why it took so long to claim this prize -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Now, Jason, there's a couple of things that are kind of mysterious about this. To wait that close to deadline and rely on postal service, that's interesting enough. But if, in fact, the deadline had passed that would have been the end of it, right? That pot would have gone back into the general pot, and it would not have been able and that reward would not have been available.

You've got to wonder. I assume that will be your first question out of the box.?

CARROLL: You know, that is going to be one of my questions, Miles. I did have some thoughts on that. Perhaps when he went to lotto agent and they looked over the tickets maybe the lotto agent simply said you have a winning ticket. Maybe he didn't know how much he had won. Perhaps that could have happened. Maybe he thought he won, 10, 15, 20 bucks, who knows, and then just decided to mail it in that way.

I find it really hard to believe that someone who had won this super jackpot would just decide to mail it in knowing how close he was to the deadline.

O'BRIEN: Yes. You know, I can't help but think of the movie "Waking Ned Devine." I wonder if some kind of scenario like that has played out. Anyway...

CARROLL: We'll have to see.

O'BRIEN: You'll have to ask them about that, too.

Jason Carroll, who's got a good assignment today, will enjoy seeing who, in fact, waited until this last minute and then relied on the postal service to send in the ticket. We'll check in with you in a bit.

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