The National Lottery has advised regular and casual players to check any outstanding tickets they have, as there are currently more than £7 million of unclaimed prizes outstanding.
Players should act fast, as there are deadlines for prizes to be claimed, and the first of those deadlines, March 2nd, is fast approaching.
Major prizes include 2 one million pound jackpots as well as a Set For Life ticket that would pay the winner £10,000 a month for the next 30 years.
UK Gambling Popularity
The National Lottery is one of the most popular forms of gambling in the UK. Nearly a third of people play the Lottery. However, sports betting and casinos are also popular.
Shaftesbury Casino in West Bromwich and Grosvenor Casino in Walsall are two of the more popular casinos near Droitwich while those who can’t access physical casinos can play games like roulette as well as top rated progressive jackpot games at online casinos. Progressive jackpots offer the potential to win jackpots worth millions of pounds, similar to the level of prize money offered by the National Lottery.
The National Lottery Winners
Since its inception in 1994, the National Lottery has paid out more than £92 billion in prize money and has created more than 7,000 millionaires. In 2023, the National Lottery made an average of more than one millionaire a day. There are lotto draws on Wednesdays and Saturdays, Euromillions draws on Tuesdays and Fridays, and Set For Life draws on Mondays and Thursdays.
Additionally, players can take part in Lotto Hotpicks, Euromillions Hotpicks, and Thunderball draws throughout the week. There are also dozens of different instant win games, including many more online. With so many draws and opportunities to win, it is unsurprising that some players seemingly forget to check their tickets.
Unclaimed Prizes
The National Lottery recently announced that more than £7 million of prize money was currently unclaimed, and the claim clock is ticking down.
In order of the closest deadline first, the prizes awaiting claim are:
A £1 million EuroMillions UK Millionaire Maker ticket is unclaimed, with a deadline of 2 March. The ticket was sold in Lambeth, London, and the winning code is MMVJ92833. The daw was made on 3 September.
Another £1 million EuroMillions UK Millionaire Maker prize is unclaimed, this time sold in Swansea, with a code of JDDF38095. The ticket holder has until 16 April to claim, having landed the prize in the 18 October draw.
A Set For Life ticket, sold in Sevenoaks, matched 5 numbers and the Life Ball, meaning the ticket holder is set to walk away with £10,000 per month for 30 years. The deadline to claim is 22 April and the winner numbers were 2, 11, 29, 37, 45, and Life Ball 6. The ticket was for the 24 October draw.
With a deadline of 4 May, a EuroMillions prize of £84,935.20 has still to be claimed. The ticket was sold in Thanet and matched the five main numbers of 1, 8, 19, 37, and 50 with Lucky Stars 6 and 9, from the 5 November draw.
For matching 5 main numbers and one Lucky Star, a ticket bought in Winchester is worth a prize of £321,840.60. The draw numbers were 4, 13, 20, 28, and 49 with Lucky Numbers of 7 and 12 for the 19 November draw. The deadline to claim this prize is 18 May.
A ticket purchased in Wiltshire for the 27 December EuroMillions UK Millionaire Maker game landed the £1 million prize and the claimant, with the ticket code XDQM36414, has until 25 June to claim.
Another EuroMillions prize, this time for £137,981.30 was won during the 31 December draw, which saw the numbers 19, 24, 26, 28, 33, and Lucky Stars 8 and 12 drawn. The deadline to claim this prize is 29 June.
January 14’s EuroMillions draw, which saw the numbers 18, 20, 29, 41, 48, and Lucky Stars 5 and 9, has a £68,232.20 prie still laying unclaimed. The winner, from Ealing, London, has until 13 July to pick up their prize.
Finally, one ticket holder who purchased their ticket in Hayes matched 5 numbers and a lucky star on the January 24 EuroMillions draw. The numbers drawn were 2, 11, 19, 30, and 49 with Lucky Stars 3 and 8. The prize winner has until 23 July to claim the £66,244.60 prize.
Claim Times
Players have 180 days, or nearly 6 months, to claim their prizes from the date of the draw. Unclaimed prizes are retained by the National Lottery before being handed out to charities and good causes. More than £100 million a year of prizes remain unclaimed with the prize money contributing to the more than £50 billion that has been given to local and charitable causes since the National Lottery started, then under the stewardship of Camelot.
New National Lottery Stewards
Camelot ran the National Lottery for 30 years until 2024. Last year, the group lost its bid for a 10-year extension to the license, with Allwyn UK taking over the running of the games from 1 February 2024. The group promised to deliver more instant-win games and to bring back a glamorous Saturday night draw.
Allwyn retained the National Lottery offices, and its staff, and has been granted a ten-year license that will run until 2034. At the time of the changeover, the Chief Executive of the Gambling Commission, the group responsible for tendering and awarding the lottery license, said that the “Fourth License by design will mean more of every pound spent on the National Lottery will go to good causes while still making sure it is safe to play.”
