Western Australia’s $40 million Powerball winner has yet to come forward to claim the prize

The winner of a massive Powerball jackpot has yet to show up to claim the prize that could instantly transform his life.

The lucky gambler became a billionaire overnight after walking away with the entire $40 million Division One jackpot.

But a week after its announcement, Lotterywest is no closer to discovering the identity of the mystery winner, believed to be from Perth.

The winner is understood to be a sole ticket holder rather than a syndicate.

Gamblers typically have 12 months to claim their lottery winnings

A Lotterywest spokesman said the team was eager to hear from the prize winner.

“It’s still early days so at this stage we encourage all players who have purchased a ticket in last week’s Powerball drawing to check it out ASAP because you could be our last billionaire,” the spokesperson said.

Players generally have 12 months from the draw date to claim their money.

In April 2020, another WA winner took 22 months to claim his winning ticket, sold by Willetton Newsagency, a southern suburb of Perth.

As of October last year, there were $22.3 million in lottery winnings yet to be claimed by ticket holders across the country.

However, the prize winner was able to take advantage of the 12-month extension to claim a top division prize, which was implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last October it was revealed that $22.3 million in lottery winnings across the country had yet to be claimed.

New South Wales punters had more than $9.5 million in unclaimed prizes from 11 winnings, while Queenslanders had more than $5.5 million from nine unclaimed large windfalls.

Western Australian ticket holders of three prizes worth $5.9 million remained elusive, with more than $1.2 million from two lottery events in Victoria going unclaimed.

Ticket holders have been encouraged to search for vintage lottery tickets from The Lott, which groups Australia’s official lotteries.