N.J. jackpot winner to claim big prize

NEWARK, New Jersey (CNN) -- The winner of a year-old $46 million lottery prize that went unclaimed until a few days ago will be presented with a check by New Jersey officials Friday morning.

New Jersey lottery officials said the winning ticket from the June 9, 2000, Big Game jackpot on Tuesday arrived by mail at their headquarters in Trenton, postmarked June 7, which was two days before the June 9 deadline to claim the prize.

The winner will be presented with a ceremonial check by Acting Gov. Donald DiFrancesco and New Jersey Lottery Executive Director Virginia Haines at a news conference in Newark at 11:30 a.m. EDT Friday.

Lottery officials won't disclose any information about the winner. The ticket was purchased at Krauszer's Convenient Store in Montvale, New Jersey. The winning numbers were 6, 7, 25, 34, 45 and the Big Money Ball number was 2.

Officials said the winner went to a lottery vendor on June 7 with a stack of tickets that he or she wanted to run through a lottery machine to check for winners. When one came up positive, the lottery agent told the winner to send it to lottery headquarters in Trenton.

This is the largest Big Game jackpot that has been won in New Jersey, according to Annette Jenkins, a lottery spokeswoman. The ticket is worth $23.7 million because the buyer chose the lump-sum payout.

The states participating in the Big Game lottery are New Jersey, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Illinois and Virginia.

CNN's Shannon Troetel contributed to this report.