Brits urged to check lotto tickets as £3.3m in National Lottery prizes remains unclaimed – and they’ll expire in weeks
BRITS across the nation are being urged to check their lottery tickets as £3.3million remains untouched.
The National Lottery revealed the winning numbers of those who are yet to claim their life-changing cash prizes – could you be one of them?
Among them are seven lucky punters who could welcome in the New Year with fortune and success.
They include:
- Two potential millionaires in the Borough of Tewkesbury and of Hertsmere after their numbers were drawn on September 9 and November 11 respectively – the prize would make them as rich as Hailey Bieber‘s dad, Stephen Baldwin.
- Another two lucky punters are also Set For Life in the London Borough of Havering and of Bromley as £10,000 could be theirs each month for the next year.
- A player in South Cambridgeshire District could also bag themselves nearly £840,000 making them richer than New Jersey Real Housewife Teresa GIudice.
In the London Borough of Ealing someone is unknowingly sitting on almost £67,000 – but this will no longer be available from February 15 next year.
Elsewhere in the country, one ticket holder could claim £167,275 if they check their numbers that were drawn on November 18.
But they only have until May 17 2023 to come forward.
The Set For Life winners will find their prizes expired on February 11 and June 3 2023.
And the two £1 million jackpot winners have until March 8 and May 5 in the new year to claim their money.
Camelot only announce unclaimed prizes more than £50,000 but there are tens of millions of smaller wins waiting to be taken.
Previous winners include one lucky Brit who scooped themselves £171 million in the EuroMillions jackpot – making them richer than Coldplay’s Chris Martin.
It is the third time a British ticket has won a jackpot of over £150 million this year.
One lucky winner bagged £195million in July, making them richer than Grammy-winner Adele – who is worth around £150m, according to the Sunday Times rich list.
UK ticketholders Joe Thwaite and wife Jess won £184million in the May EuroMillions draw earlier this year.
What happens to the unclaimed cash prizes?
Any cash that isn’t claimed after a total of 180 days from a game played in the UK goes to National Lottery projects across the country.
Folks in Ireland have just half that time to claim too, with only 90 days before the prize money is off the table.
Once the claim period is over, the ticket officially expires and the owner of the lottery ticket will no longer be able to claim any of their winnings.
But after that time has expired, any unclaimed prizes, plus any interest they might have accumulated in that time, are allocated to the National Lottery’s Good Causes fund instead.
This will usually then go on to help fund things like sport programmes or local community buildings or other projects.
They can range from the small to the big aids, like when funding goes towards training up Olympic athletes.
Closer to home though, if you are unlucky enough to miss the 180 day period then unfortunately it’s officially gone, and you’ll have to retry your luck the next time a big cash prize comes around.