Nobody has claimed the $1.5 billion Mega Millions lottery prize - and the deadline is approaching

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Lottery ticket.

• The person who bought the Mega Millions lottery ticket worth $1.5 billion 22 days ago still hasn't claimed the prize.
• There is a 180-day deadline to cash in the South Carolina ticket, which falls on April 21, 2019.
• Mega Millions announced the winning ticket on October 24, and it was bought in a South Carolina KC Mart in early October.
• If they don't collect the biggest-ever Mega Millions prize it can go back into the game's prize pool.
• The odds of winning the prize were 1 in 303 million.

The owner of the Mega Millions lottery ticket worth $1.5 billion still hasn't come forward 22 days after they won, and there is a deadline to claim the money.

Seth Elkin, Maryland Lottery and Gaming spokesman said on Tuesday that the person who bought the ticket in a Simpsonville KC Mart, South Carolina, is still a mystery, as they have "not heard that the winner in South Carolina has come forward," ABC News reported.

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A man buys tickets for the Mega Millions lottery after the jackpot exceeded $1.6 billion in New York City.

The winner has 180 days to collect the prize, which puts the cut-off point at April 21, 2019, according to Mega Millions rules.

They had the winning numbers 5, 28, 62, 65, 70, and 5.

If October's winner doesn't claim the money it will go back into the game's prize pool, or it can given to South Carolina's development programs and plans funded by Mega Millions profits.

Read more: Buying enough Mega Millions tickets to cover every possible combination sounds like a surefire way to win - but there are 3 major problems with that plan.

Tony Cooper, the chief operating officer at the South Carolina Education Lottery, said the winner should sign the back of the lottery ticket, keep it in a safe place, and then get hold of a reliable financial advisor, ABC News said.

The lucky winner can chose between getting the prize as a lump sum of $878 millions dollars, or receive $1.537 billion in installments over 29 years.

Profits from Mega Millions ticket sales go toward funding higher education, senior citizen programs, and environmental protection schemes.