How To Avoid Missing Out On Your Lottery Prizes

1. Lottery.co.uk
2. News
3. How To Avoid Missing Out On Your Lottery Prizes

The UK National Lottery has to redistribute millions of pounds to good causes every year when players do not claim their prizes in time, and more great awards are set to expire before the end of the month. Find out more about the latest unclaimed prizes and how to make sure you don’t miss out on any big win you are due.

Unclaimed Prizes

There is a limit of 180 days to claim all National Lottery prizes, whether you play Lotto, EuroMillions, Thunderball or Lotto HotPicks. You can see a list of the latest big Unclaimed Prizes, and find out where in the UK the winning tickets were sold. A EuroMillions ticket worth £687,688, bought in Oldham, expired earlier this week, and now the next deadline is for a ticket purchased in Enfield for the EuroMillions draw on 25th July 2017.

The Enfield entry won a £1 million prize and a holiday to Florida in the Millionaire Maker game, but the ticket holder must come forward before 21st January. Andy Carter, the National Lottery’s senior winners’ advisor, has said: “Time is fast running out for the winner, but we are still hopeful that someone will come forward at the very last minute to claim the prize. We’re urging everyone to check their old tickets one final time or look anywhere a missing EuroMillions ticket could be hiding.”

Check Numbers

The first step to making sure you do not miss out on a lottery prize is to check the results, and you can use the Lottery Checker to look at all the latest winning numbers. Don’t forget, in draws such as Lotto and EuroMillions, there are two sets of results to look out for. When you play Lotto, you are also entered automatically into the Lotto Raffle, while EuroMillions players go straight into the Millionaire Maker draw. It is often the Lotto Raffle and Millionaire Maker prizes which go unclaimed, probably because a lot of participants check their numbers for the main game but then forget to look at the other code on their ticket.

Keep Your Ticket safe

Once you have checked your ticket and found out you have won, you can claim your prize in the appropriate way. While you wait, it is important to keep the ticket in a safe place, so try and get into the habit of storing your lottery entries somewhere secure and memorable so that you do not forget where they are. You should also sign the back of your ticket to prove it is yours in case it gets lost or stolen. Taxi driver Amo Riselli, who won £24.5 million on 30th December, left his ticket in his glove compartment for two days before realising where it was, and then gave it to his mum until he was ready to come forward. Mother Maria kept the valuable entry in a glass jar in her kitchen cupboard and regularly checked it was still there.

Go Online

The vast majority of prizes go unclaimed either because players forget to check their numbers or because their ticket gets lost and they cannot find it when word begins to spread about a local winner. Playing online is one way to avoid any of these complications. Your numbers will be stored safely and there is no need even to check the results as you will be notified of any win. Most payments will be made directly into your online account, while for larger prizes you will be guided through the claims process.

There will be more chances to pick up great prizes this weekend, with the Lotto jackpot up to £12.8 million and EuroMillions worth £44 million. You can then check the results on Lottery.co.uk to see if you’ve won a prize which needs claiming. Good luck!