PA Woman in Hunt for $2.5 Million Lottery Ticket Accidently Donated to Charity

Posted on: April 1, 2025, 10:32h. 

Last updated on: April 1, 2025, 02:41h.

Philip Conneller @casinoorgphilc Read More
Expertise: Gaming Business, Regulation, Tribal Gaming.
  • Mildred Simoneriluto left ticket in jacket donated to charity
  • Vietnam Veterans of America could have sent it anywhere in the world
  • Lottery requires physical ticket to claim prize

Mildred Simoneriluto is facing the race of her life. The 76-year-old from Murrysville, Pa., is frantically searching for a lost lottery ticket worth an eye-watering $2 million before its May 8 expiration date.

Mildred Simoneriluto, Pennsylvania Lottery, Vietnam Veterans of America, Shop n' Save Murrysville, Cash 5 Winning Ticket
Mildred Simoneriluto, above, donated her fortune to charity by mistake and is facing a race against time to find her winning lottery ticket before it expires next month. (Image: ABC Action News 6)

The trouble is, the ticket could be anywhere in the world because Mildred left it in a jacket that she donated to Vietnam Veterans of America. The charitable organization distributes donations across the country and even outside of the US.

Simoneriluto purchased the ticket in May 2024 from a Shop n’ Save in Murrysville. By the time she realized the ticket was a winner, two weeks later, it was already too late. The jacket and its $2.5 million contents had been spirited away.

Who would have thought that performing a simple good deed would produce such shoddy 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 told the news channel she’s spent the past year haunted by the missing ticket, which would have changed her life forever.

Who Has Mildred’s Millions?

Since Pennsylvania Lottery officials require players to produce an actual physical ticket to collect their winnings, Simoneriluto is staring at the grim reality that an imposter might come forward to collect the prize. Or, if no one claims it by May 8, the money will go unawarded.

She’s hoping that the publicity surrounding her predicament might help locate the missing ticket. It’s a Cash 5 ticket with the winning numbers 14, 22, 33, 35, and 38. Ring any bells?

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 misfortune echoes other cases of lost lottery winnings. In 2001, British couple Martyn and Kay Tott lost out on a £3 million National Lottery prize after misplacing their ticket.

Despite proving they had purchased the winning numbers, lottery rules required the couple to produce the physical ticket, and the Totts got diddly-squat.

Finders Keepers

The rules are different in Canada. In 2012, an Ontario woman, Kathryn Jones, bought a ticket that she promptly lost and forgot about.

She was unaware the ticket had won CA$50 million until lottery officials showed up at her house with the good news, having traced her via the lottery retailer’s surveillance video.

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

The original owner challenged St. John’s claim to the winnings, but the Massachusetts Lottery ruled that a lottery ticket is like legal tender — possession is all that is required to prove ownership.