Time running out for Bay Area Powerball lottery millionaire to claim prize

LOS GATOS -- A Powerball ticket worth more than $1.5 million after being purchased in Los Gatos in October will expire next week if no one comes forward to claim it, California Lottery officials said Tuesday.

The ticket bought at a Mobil gas station at 15380 Los Gatos Blvd. matched the five numbers --19, 36, 37, 46 and 56 -- from the Oct. 26 drawing, missing only the Powerball number 24.

 The ticket is worth $1,556,855, but that money will instead go to public school funding if it is not claimed by Monday.

Update: Winner claims nearly expired $1.5M Powerball ticket bought in Los Gatos

Another ticket matching the same five numbers from the Oct. 26 drawing was also purchased in Southern California and has already been claimed.

Whoever has the winning ticket should sign the back of it and then go to one of the California Lottery's nine offices around the state, including in Milpitas and Richmond in the Bay Area, to fill out a claim form. The winner can also send in a claim form and winning ticket by mail, but it must be postmarked by Monday.

 If the winner does not claim the ticket by the Monday deadline, the money will go to public education.

California Lottery officials say more than $1 billion in unclaimed prizes have gone to the state's schools since lottery tickets first went on sale in California in 1985.