A woman from New York has finally come forward to claim a whopping $12 million prize
From a 1991 Lotto jackpot, which happens to be the largest in the state's history.
After patiently waiting for 31 years, 77-year-old Janet Valenti shared with local lottery officials
That she was the rightful winner of this $12 million New York Lotto jackpot,
which had remained unclaimed for more than three decades.
This remarkable turn of events resulted from a tiny mistake, and
there was nothing she could do to fix it. Valenti explained that she had the winning
$12 million lottery ticket sitting on a side table next to her sofa,
along with other lottery tickets. She thought she had already checked all the tickets on that table.
But as she was getting ready to leave her home with her two teenage children and her mother for
a weekend at a friend's house, she mistakenly threw the tickets
including the $12 million winner, into the trash. This happened in July 1991.