Deadline to Claim More Than £1 Million in Outstanding Lottery Prizes Approaches
Last Updated: Thursday 24th September 2020, 12:38
With February fast approaching, time is running out for three ticket holders to claim their share of more than £1 million in prizes. The National Lottery is urging everyone who played EuroMillions in August 2013 to check for stray tickets and claim their prize before the tickets expire.
Two of the potential winners are set to share £189,103.20 between them, having each matched five numbers and one lucky star in the EuroMillions draw on August 9th 2013. The two tickets were purchased in stores almost 300 miles apart, one in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham and the other in the City of Durham and Chester Le Street Area. However, the two winners only have until February 5th to claim their individual prizes of £94,551.60 before the money is donated to the National Lottery Good Causes fund.
In addition, a player who participated in the EuroMillions draw on August 23rd of 2013 is also at risk of missing out on their prize – this time a million pound fortune. Although this player’s numbers in the main EuroMillions draw didn’t come up, they were lucky enough to match the EuroMillions Millionaire Raffle Code to automatically win the £1 million prize. The ticket holder, from the Borough of Trafford, Greater Manchester, matched the unique code of MFQ213183 but must come forward before February 19th to claim their prize otherwise the money will be passed over to the National Lottery Good Causes fund.
Although it’s always disappointing when big winnings go unclaimed, it’s important to recognise that there are those who do benefit from the unclaimed winnings and, as the old saying goes, “one man’s loss is another man’s gain”. Along with a proportion of the funds raised from ticket sales, all unclaimed prizes are transferred to The National Lottery Good Causes fund. This far reaching, charitable organisation has awarded an average of 135 lottery grants to every postcode district in the UK and lottery players have raised an astonishing £31 billion for the good causes supported by the fund. Camelot, the company which operates the National Lottery and oversees the UK’s participation in the pan-European EuroMillions draw, contributes an average of over £35 million each week to the fund. This money goes towards a variety of different projects including preserving national heritage sites, supporting the arts, funding sports facilities and subsidising health, educational, environmental and social charities.
