£1 Million Lotto Prize Claimed With Hours to Spare

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An unclaimed Lotto prize worth £1 million has been claimed, only hours before it was due to expire. An anonymous player phoned Camelot on Monday evening to lay claim to the sum, nearly six months to the day after it was won.

The winning ticket was bought in Manchester for the 9th January Lotto draw. The ticket went on to match five main numbers and the Bonus Ball, becoming one of only two tickets to win the second-tier Lotto prize. When, after 14 days, no one initially came forward to claim ownership of the prize, the National Lottery revealed where the winning ticket had been bought, in hopes of finding the elusive Lotto winner.

Last Minute Lotto Prize Claim

As of 4pm on Monday 8th July, the National Lottery still had not received any claims for the seven-figure sum. The prize was set to expire at midnight that night, but a phone call was received regarding the claim just hours beforehand. The claim is currently undergoing a validation process, after which the potential winner can choose whether or not to go public with a press conference.

The same evening, a player from Glasgow came forward to collect another £1 million prize, this time from a Lotto draw on the 18th June. They are also yet to choose the amount of publicity they would like for their win.

The shock last-minute prize claim is not the first time a lottery winner has cut it fine collecting their winnings. A £76 million EuroMillions jackpot went unclaimed for nearly two months, before self-employed builder Andrew Clark came forward to collect the prize. The close call was made even closer by the fact that Clark nearly lost the winning ticket – he had stashed his lottery tickets in his work van, before some were blown away by a gust of wind.

Unclaimed Lotto Prize in East Riding

There is currently one large Lotto prize yet to be claimed – a £1 million prize, won in East Riding of Yorkshire on the 6th March. The winner has until the 2nd September to claim their prize.

Prize money that remains unclaimed after the deadline is allocated to the Good Causes fund, where it can benefit organisations, associations and communities across the country. To date, over £40 billion has been raised for Good Causes since the National Lottery began in 1994.