After three decades of waiting, a woman from New York has stepped forward to share with local lottery officials that she was the person who never claimed $12 million from a 1991 Lotto jackpot. This news comes as a shock in a world full of people looking to earn more to lead the comfortable lives they dream of. Janet Valenti, 77, revealed she was the rightful owner of a $12 million New York Lotto jackpot that sat unclaimed for more than 30 years. Valenti wanted to get the money as anybody would. However, the unfortunate fate of the ticket barred her from claiming the money for thirty-one years. She says that she has won the ticket sitting on an end table next to her couch, among other lottery tickets, according to the lottery post. She believed she had checked all the tickets on the table, and thrown them in the trash before leaving the house with her kids to spend the weekend at a friend’s house.
Over the weekend, she was unaware she had tossed the winning ticket in the trash. When she returned, a friend informed her of a winning $12 million Lotto ticket sold in Staten Island. She soon discovered she had won after seeing the winning numbers in the newspaper. Upon arriving home, she rushed to retrieve the ticket from the garage but could not find it.