National Lottery Winners Running Out of Time to Claim Massive Prizes
Posted on: September 22, 2022, 11:51h.
Last updated on: September 22, 2022, 12:20h.
A couple of lottery players in the UK may be sitting on winning tickets without even realizing it. Two players recently won six-figure prizes, but neither has come forward to collect, and time is running out.
It’s not entirely uncommon for some players to wait a long time before claiming their lottery winnings. It took a pair of Mega Millions winners in the US two months to come forward on their $1.33B win.
However, waiting too long can have dire consequences because winners have to claim their prizes within a certain amount of time. If they don’t, they miss out on the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Manchester Player Only Days from Losing
Someone in the Manchester borough of Trafford won £1 million (US$1.2 million) in a EuroMillions draw on April 1. The winner doesn’t have much time left to claim the prize, with Wednesday, September 28, marking the last day.
The draw’s Millionaire Maker option led to the win. The code for it was TVCV 85411, but the winner may not realize it.
Should he or she not come forward, the National Lottery will be able to keep all of the money. It can then use the cash to fund various community programs, which is one of the reasons the lottery exists.
Camelot is still running the show behind the National Lottery, though it won’t be doing so for much longer. Allwyn will take over in February 2024, but the transition likely won’t be smooth.
When it’s done, the new lottery operator has promised it will allocate more money to worthy causes. In an update from a couple of days ago, it said it will be able to “double” the amount. At the same time, it promises to increase responsible gambling initiatives through innovation and technology.
30 and Counting
A lottery winner in Belfast has more time, but their countdown continues as well. There’s a ticket out there worth £1 million from the EuroMillions draw on April 26 that has yet to be presented.
In that draw, a Millionaire Maker hit, but the winner apparently isn’t in a hurry to claim the prize. The code was XFGV 45262, so anyone who is hanging on to old tickets should check to see if they have a match.
In each EuroMillions draw, the ticket comes with a unique Millionaire Maker code. In some cases, it’s conceivable that a player only checks the primary numbers without verifying the Millionaire Maker code. If the draw numbers were a bust, perhaps the ticket ended up in the trash.
National Lottery draw winners have 180 days to present their tickets. In this case, the deadline is October 23. Because the National Lottery draw information is online and on the platform’s app, as well as in retail stores everywhere, it would only take a few seconds for someone to find out if they’re an instant millionaire.