Two Scots fail to collect £1 million lottery prizes

Jan 24, 2014, 5:40 pm (10 comments)

UK National Lottery

Two people have missed out on the chance to become millionaires after failing to collect their lottery prizes in time.

The deadline for claiming the two £1 million prizes expired at 11pm Wednesday, more than 180 days after the EuroMillions draw on July 26.

One of the winning tickets was bought in Fife and the other in East Dunbartonshire.

The money, plus the interest it earned, has now passed over to the UK National Lottery Good Causes.

Earlier this week it emerged that another winner from Fife had also failed to collect the lottery prize that would have made them a millionaire.

They bought the EuroMillions Millionaire Raffle ticket in Fife on July 23 and the prize was passed to the National Lottery Good Causes after it remained unclaimed for more than 180 days.

A National Lottery spokesman said: "To avoid this unfortunate situation happening again, I would urge all National Lottery players to check their tickets on a regular basis.

"We tried very hard to find the ticket-holder and it's a real shame that they have missed out, but there is still one winner — the nation. This money, and all the interest earned over the 180 days, will now go to benefit projects all over the UK funded by The National Lottery."

The unclaimed prizes will be added to the £31 billion that has already been raised by National Lottery players since 1994 to help more than 420,000 projects across the arts, sports, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.

Thanks to myturn for the tip.

Daily Record

Comments

haymaker's avatarhaymaker

So their lotteries are just as greedy as US. instead of adding it to the JP they add to whatever cause their lottery supports,

backwards thinking, add it to the JP and sell more tix.

mypiemaster's avatarmypiemaster

Very sad indeed.

CDanaT's avatarCDanaT

OUCH !!!!     Thud

myturn's avatarmyturn

Here in Australia state lotteries have Player's Cards, they charge a small fee to join and if you win a large prize they will contact you. If you win a small prize and if you don't or forget to claim it, they will mail it to you. The Player's Card is optional, you can still play without the card. 

The UK Lottery and US state lotteries should consider offering such a service to players. 

 

A Lotterywest Player’s Card can:

 

  • make it easy to receive any prizes you win
  • store your favourite numbers
  • provide you with some protection if you lose your ticket

 

How it works

Claiming your prize

 

With a Lotterywest Player’s Card, it doesn’t matter if you forget to check your numbers. Any prizes will be

 

automatically sent to you five weeks after the draw, provided they have not already been claimed.

 

However, it’s still important you keep your tickets in a safe place, to make sure no one else claims any winnings before we deposit into your account or send you a cheque.

With a Lotterywest Player’s Card, it doesn’t matter if you forget to check your numbers. Any prizes will be automatically sent to you five weeks after the draw, provided they have not already been claimed.

 

However, it’s still important you keep your tickets in a safe place, to make sure no one else claims any winnings before we deposit into your account or send you a cheque.

 

Favourite numbers

 

You can store a set of favourite numbers with your Player’s Card for each of the Lotto games plus Soccer Pools and Cash 3. Hand your card along with a playslip to your Lotterywest retailer and let them know you want to record your favourite numbers with your card.

 

Anytime you wish to change your favourite numbers, simply fill out a new playslip and ask your retailer to update your favourite numbers on your Player’s Card.

maringoman's avatarmaringoman

It kills me when I realize that I might never hit anything substantial while people are leaving money they won even if it's not on purpose.

sully16's avatarsully16

Ouch is right, but life happens, I can think of a ton a things that are way more important than a lottery ticket sometimes.

helpmewin's avatarhelpmewin

Quote: Originally posted by haymaker on Jan 24, 2014

So their lotteries are just as greedy as US. instead of adding it to the JP they add to whatever cause their lottery supports,

backwards thinking, add it to the JP and sell more tix.

I Agree!

Shelby Mustang

Im not going to feel sorry for someone too lazy to check a piece of paper to see it theyve won millions. Im glad the country gets it maybe people will wake up and check their darn ticket!!

savagegoose's avatarsavagegoose

so this is that millionair raffle that goes along with  the £2 euro millions ticket.  they must have  chcked their numbers  and not won, but forgot the millionaires raffle numbers!

al20202020

I think sometimes people buy random tickets, perhaps at a supermarket or after a few beers, in addition to their normal playing and simply forget thet have done so. I also live in Scotland and only play lotto online so I get contacted if I win.  I never buy random tickets anymore.

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