Are You The Owner of an Unclaimed EuroMillions or Lotto Prize?
Updated: Friday 20th April 2018
It can be easy to lose track of time every now and again, especially with the lighter days brought about by the spring season. However, it’s important for Lotto and EuroMillions players not to forget which draws they have entered as there are currently several unclaimed prizes for both lotteries. With only 180 days from the draw date for players to come forward and claim their winnings, let’s take a look in more detail at some of the unclaimed prizes that are about to expire:
Enter EuroMillions last November in Dundee?
There’s a UK Millionaire Maker prize worth £1 million currently outstanding following a EuroMillions draw on Tuesday 14th November 2017. The winning ticket for Draw Number 1059 was bought in the Scottish coastal city of Dundee, and the winner has until Sunday 13th May to claim the seven-figure amount. The two winning UK Millionaire Maker codes were TZFN 99040 and XZFK 09195, so if either sound familiar, visit the How to Claim page to find out how to proceed.
Did you Play EuroMillions in Newcastle in December?
If you visited Newcastle upon Tyne on Tuesday 19th December last year, you may want to check every trouser pocket you own. You may have been shopping in the North East six days before Christmas Day or visiting family and friends. Whatever you were doing, there’s a £1 million UK Millionaire Maker prize still waiting to be claimed. The EuroMillions draw number 1069 produced two winning codes of TMKS 66915 and XMKV 63264, so if this jogs your memory, you have until Sunday 17th June to come forward.
Were you a Lotto player in Newcastle under Lyme earlier this year?
Newcastle under Lyme, a market town in Staffordshire, is next on the unclaimed prizes list, with a Lotto winner of £1 million still to appear from the draw on Wednesday 17th January 2018. The winning millionaire raffle code of JADE41699261 secured the only Raffle tier 1 prize in that draw, so make sure you get in touch with any family or friends before the upcoming deadline on Monday 16th July if you think it might be them.
Any Lotto HotPicks ticket holders from West Lothian?
The West Lothian area of Scotland, east of Glasgow, is where a winning Lotto HotPicks ticket worth £350,000 was bought for the draw on Saturday 3rd February. The ticket matched five of the six winning numbers, which were 8, 26, 27, 29, 49 and 58, and there were also four Match 4 winners of £13,000 that night. If you’re a Lotto HotPicks-playing West Lothian resident, or were just passing through, it’s worth checking your ticket again. The rightful ticket holder has until Thursday 2nd August to get in touch with the relevant lottery officials.
Have You Lost, Damaged, or Even Found a Winning Ticket?
Unfortunately, winning EuroMillions or Lotto tickets can be lost or damaged if you’ve played offline, and it’s possible that you might even find some winning numbers that don’t belong to you, so it’s important you understand what to do in these instances.
Although the National Lottery doesn’t have to pay out a lost ticket, you can lodge an appeal within 30 days of the draw via email or post. For those lottery tickets that have been damaged to the point where the barcode cannot be scanned at a local retailer, players must contact National Lottery to show proof of when and where the ticket was bought, also within 30 days of the draw taking place.
Only one person can be the owner of a EuroMillions or Lotto ticket at one time, so if you come across a random lottery ticket for a valid draw, check whether a name or address has been written on the back of the ticket. If this information is there, then the ticket lawfully belongs to the person who wrote down their name and address. In this situation, even though you’ve found what might be a winning ticket, you won’t be able to claim any winnings from the ticket as you will have to provide some form of identification to prove you are that person.
However, if you do happen to find a winning ticket without a name and address on, you should send it to the National Lottery prize payout department, explaining when and where the ticket was found, providing your name, address and contact information in an attempt to reunite the ticket with its original owner, if you haven’t tried to do so already. If no prize claim or lost ticket notices have been made, the prize may eventually be paid to the finder of the ticket after the 180-day deadline has passed, if it can be proved you acted in good faith.
Play Online to Avoid the Unclaimed Prizes List
Any prizes left unclaimed after the deadline are no longer redeemable, and are instead put towards National Lottery Projects instead. £1,628.0 million was raised for these projects in the year ending 31st March 2017, with the money from unclaimed prizes contributing to this total.
One of the advantages of playing online is that your tickets are safely and securely stored in your online account, eliminating the risk of them being lost, damaged or found by someone else. You are also notified via email if you’re a winner, so if you want to play the next EuroMillions or UK Lotto draws from the safety of your own home, buy your tickets online to avoid ending up on the Unclaimed Prizes list.
Published: Friday 20th April 2018Lottery News News Archive