A year after a mystery winner scooped $100 million in an Australian Powerball drawing, no one has come forward to claim the prize — an unprecedented event in Australian lottery history given the size of the jackpot.
Australian Powerball officials say the ticket was purchased at an internet cafe in Sydney’s eastern suburbs in June 2025. The winning numbers in that drawing, draw No. 1517, were 28, 10, 3, 16, 31, 14 and 21. The Powerball was 6.
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The prize is the third-largest in Australian lottery history. While winning tickets have gone unclaimed in the past, a spokesperson for The Lott, the body that runs lottery drawings in Australia, told the Daily Mail that this case is unprecedented because the Australian lottery has never had a prize of this magnitude go unclaimed for so long.
The spokesperson said buyers often lose their tickets, and past winners have found forgotten tickets in drawers, stuck to refrigerators or tucked inside wallets.
The spokesperson said some winners have discovered their good fortune months or even years after the draw, often realizing the ticket had been in plain sight all along and was simply waiting to be checked.
The Daily Mail reported that all available evidence related to the anonymous win has been collected, but security camera footage will be used only to verify the identity of the claimant if and when that person comes forward.
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In New South Wales, where Sydney is located, lottery participants have six years to claim prize money. If the ticket holder is not found within that period, the money will be returned to the prize pool and partly allocated to community projects. If the ticket is found by someone other than the person who filled it out, that person can claim it because the ticket is treated like cash.
A lottery spokesperson said officials have not lost hope that the winner will be found and urged Australian players to check any lottery tickets lying around their homes, cars or offices, as well as any hidden spots where they might keep them.
First published: 17:42, 05.04.26