
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, July 1, 1995                   TAG: 9507030032
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                 LENGTH: Short

$11.2 MILLION LOTTO PRIZE UNCLAIMED

RICHMOND - As the 5 p.m. deadline approached, the hopes of lottery officials waned. The purchaser of a $11.2 million lottery ticket had not come forward.

With four minutes to go Thursday, Virginia Lottery spokeswoman Paula Otto prepared to send out a news release.

``It was a big jackpot. We're disappointed,'' she said.

For the next 20 years in monthly installments, the lottery department will award the unclaimed prize to the state Literary Fund. It will add up to $563,000 each year. The fund is used for teacher retirements and to make low-interest loans to school boards for construction.

The lottery launched a campaign to find the winner as the deadline approached. Officials distributed fliers Monday at a Great Neck Road 7-Eleven in Virginia Beach where the winning ticket was purchased and at regional offices statewide. The fliers said ``MISSING!'' under which the winning number - 13-23-25-29-32-33 - was displayed.

They also ran a message along the bottom of every lottery ticket sold, beginning last Saturday.

``We feel an obligation to make the public aware of the prize,'' Otto said. ``We're in the business of paying prizes, and we hoped that we might get the attention of whoever the person was.''

The $11.2 million actually was half of a $22.4 million jackpot split with a Loudoun County family in a Dec. 31 drawing. Winners have six months to claim their money.

Since 1988, the lottery has given $30 million in unclaimed prizes to the fund.

- Associated Press

by CNB