Mildred Simoneriluto is encountering the competition of her lifetime. The 76-year-old resident of Murrysville, Pa., is desperately looking for a missing lottery ticket valued at a staggering $2 million before it expires on May 8. 

The issue is that the ticket might be located anywhere globally, as Mildred placed it in a jacket she gave to Vietnam Veterans of America. The nonprofit organization allocates contributions throughout the nation and even beyond the US borders. 

Simoneriluto bought the ticket in May 2024 at a Shop n’ Save located in Murrysville. When she discovered the ticket was a winner, two weeks later, it was already too late. The jacket along with its $2.5 million contents had been taken away. 

Who could have imagined that carrying out a basic act of kindness would result in such poor karma?

"I was stupefied. There are no words for it, there’s no expression. How can I get it back?” Simoneriluto asked Pittsburgh’s Action News 4.

She informed the news channel that she has been tormented by the lost ticket for the past year, a ticket that could have transformed her life permanently. 

Who Owns Mildred’s Fortune? 

Due to Pennsylvania Lottery officials needing players to present a physical ticket to claim their winnings, Simoneriluto faces the harsh possibility that a fraudster could appear to claim the prize. Alternatively, if no one asserts it by May 8, the funds will remain unawarded. 

She’s optimistic that the attention on her situation could assist in finding the lost ticket. It's a Cash 5 ticket featuring the winning numbers 14, 22, 33, 35, and 38. Does that sound familiar?

"What else can I do?” she asked Action News 4. “Cry out loud and hope that something will happen positive on my end.”

Simoneriluto’s unfortunate experience reflects similar instances of unclaimed lottery prizes. In 2001, British pair Martyn and Kay Tott missed a £3 million National Lottery prize due to misplacing their ticket. 

Even though they demonstrated that they had acquired the winning numbers, lottery regulations mandated that the couple present the actual ticket, and the Totts ended up with nothing. 

Finders Keepers 

The regulations vary in Canada. In 2012, a woman from Ontario, Kathryn Jones, purchased a ticket that she quickly misplaced and overlooked. 

She had no idea that the ticket had won CA$50 million until lottery officials arrived at her home with the exciting news, having located her through the surveillance footage from the lottery retailer. 

In 2005, an 86-year-old man named Edward St. John discovered a $1 million ticket in the garbage in Massachusetts. 

The original owner contested St. John’s assertion to the prize, however, the Massachusetts Lottery determined that a lottery ticket functions like legal currency — having it in hand suffices to establish ownership.