Is there a note on the casino in order to claim the winning? if there's already a note on there, the gambler should be blamed since he's careless since he didn't read it. But, if the casino didn't have notes, the casino is shady since they want to make the gambler will not able to claim his winnings.
After all, this story will make people in this forum aware to ask the casino's employee to claim the winnings in order to avoid this case happened to them. Good information @OP.
There's was an instruction on where to claim the prize. But if you will read the article, it indicates that the announcement of winner was done not a few weeks ago or a few months ago, but a year ago. Wherein, it is also said:
if you win over $1,000 you should get your cheque in six to eight weeks
It's long past due to claim the prize. That's also a long time ago that anyone would really forget where they purchase their ticket.
Then the first requirement to claim his prize is to confirm the location of where he purchased it which is being done to confirm if he's the real owner of the ticket.
Anyways, yes, it's a great awareness for everyone to look into especially for those people who always buy a lottery ticket.