'Lost ticket' holder claims $162m lottery jackpot

Someone turned in a valid winning ticket for a near $162m (€127m) lottery jackpot in Ohio today – a day after a woman claimed she lost the ticket outside the store where it was sold.

Ohio Lottery spokeswoman Mardele Cohen said the winner would be revealed later today.

She would not say whether the winner was Elecia Battle, the woman who filed a police report saying she lost the ticket last week.

About 30 people with torches searched for the ticket Monday night outside the Cleveland store after the police report Battle filed became public.

The Ohio Lottery says the ticket is a bearer note, which means whoever turns in a valid ticket is legally entitled to the winnings.

Cohen said the bearer status makes the ticket “like cash.”

But Battle intended to make a case that the winning ticket from the 11-state Mega Millions game is her lost property, said her lawyer, Sheldon Starke.

“This is a question of lost property, not abandoned property,” he said today. “If there is one type of property that is not presumed to be abandoned, it’s money … Anyone who finds it is not the owner.”

Battle, 40, filed a police report saying she dropped her purse as she left the Quick Shop Food Mart last week after buying the ticket. She said she realised after the drawing last Tuesday that the ticket was missing.

The Ohio Lottery said the winning ticket was sold at the store in South Euclid, about 15 miles east of Cleveland.

Police had said Battle was in tears when she filed her report Friday and did not hesitate when asked to write down the winning numbers.

“We don’t believe that she’s fabricating it, but there’s no real way of knowing other than going on her word,” said Police Lieutenant Kevin Nieter.

Nieter had said information Battle knew about when the ticket was bought and how the numbers were picked make her story credible. She told police that the numbers – 12, 18, 21, 32 and 46 and Mega Ball 49 – represented family birthdays and ages.

The Ohio Lottery said the winning ticket was sold to someone who chose the numbers rather than letting the computer make the choices.

Battle’s husband, Jimmy Battle, has two jobs and the couple have seven children, some from previous marriages.

If the jackpot hadn’t been claimed by June 27, the money would have gone to Ohio and 10 other states that participate in the game.