A FRUSTRATED lottery winner has been left without his massive $44million payment.
This is despite the Californian having already waited an extra two agonizing weeks past the typical time it takes.
Jerry, whose last name was not given, won the staggering amount in Orange County.
But he hasn’t been able to splash his cash yet and has expressed his irritation with the 10 week delay.
The eager new multi-millionaire won the Powerball jackpot on August 19, but cannot yet claim his new illustrious title.
He said: “The process is really horrible for a winner of a big… any big lotto winnings.
“They won’t tell you, ‘By this date, you’ll get the funds.’ They won’t tell you that.”
The lucky winner also suggested his suspicion as to whether he will even receive the jackpot.
Jerry continued: “They leave it open-ended, so you’re sitting, waiting daily, hoping when you’re going to get these funds.”
Lottery officials will not comment on his specific case, according to reports, but have said it’s common for payments to take up to six to eight weeks.
That’s two weeks less than Jerry has now been patiently waiting for his fortune.
This is because winners have to go through an extensive vetting process.
The vetting looks deep into the financial background of the winner, including to see if they don’t owe back taxes or child support.
Jerry is an frequent player of the lottery.
When buying his ticket that would be the path to his riches, he took a chance and selected some of his favorite numbers.
It is unclear if Jerry always plays the same numbers.
The lucky man went onto say: “It was exciting in a really subtle way because you don’t anticipate ever hitting all six.
“Six numbers on the Powerball is… the odds are you’ll die before.. You’ll walk out and get hit by lightning before you win that one.”
Carolyn Becker with the California State Lottery, said the fastest a winner might get paid is four weeks, but that doesn’t happen very often.
Jenny said: “California Lottery processes, believe it or not, 10,000 plus claims a month, so we want to manage the expectations of our winners,.”
She hopes that Jerry’s money will be paid into his account sooner rather than later, so he can start enjoy his lifechanging winnings, as reported by ABC.
This isn’t the first time that lottery winnings have not made it to their winner.
Earlier in October, lotto bosses urged players to double check their numbers after a $2million prize was unclaimed.
The Connecticut winning ticket was traced to a gas station.
April 10 has been set as the deadline for the winner to collect their reward.
