How To Make Sure Your Lottery Prizes Don’t Expire
Last Updated: Thursday 24th September 2020, 14:16
As EuroMillions, Lotto and Thunderball players dream of winning this week’s fantastic jackpots, the importance of carefully checking tickets has been highlighted after a couple of big National Lottery prizes expired.
A Thunderball ticket holder from the Rotherham area who matched all five main numbers plus the Thunderball on 20th July 2016 missed out on their £500,000 prize after failing to come forward before Monday’s deadline. Meanwhile, a player from Cheshire and Chester West only has until Thursday to claim a £1 million prize.
The Cheshire prize comes from the Lotto Millionaire Raffle draw on 23rd July 2016, and players from the area are being urged to look for their tickets before it is too late. The winning code was BLUE 3290 4318, and if the prize remains unclaimed the money will be donated to the National Lottery Good Causes Fund.
Participants are automatically entered into the Lotto Millionaire Raffle when they play Lotto, with one randomly-generated raffle code printed alongside each line. There is one guaranteed prize of £1 million in every draw, plus 20 extra prizes of £20,000.
All National Lottery prizes expire after 180 days so it is vital for players to come forward while tickets are still valid. Online players will be automatically notified of any wins, and paid smaller prizes directly. Players who buy their tickets from retailers are advised to keep their tickets in a safe place and sign the back of their entries.
You can also use the National Lottery Checker to see if you are due a prize, whether it is Lotto, EuroMillions, Thunderball or Health Lottery. Lotto Raffle codes and Millionaire Maker codes are often overlooked, but the Checker allows you to see if your code has been drawn in the last 180 days.
One player who has claimed their prize this week is the Devon winner from the EuroMillions draw on 23rd December. They bagged £1 million and a luxury winter break as part of Mega Week, and can now look forward to their exciting trip to Zermatt in Switzerland.
There are more great prizes up for grabs this week, including a £12.2 million Lotto jackpot in tonight’s draw and £70 million on Friday’s EuroMillions.Tickets can be bought online or from authorised retailers, and the winning numbers can then be found on National-Lottery.com. Good luck!