A United Kingdom lottery player from Leicestershire has missed out on the chance to become a millionaire.
UK National Lottery bosses announced that the deadline to claim the EuroMillions win expired at midnight yesterday.
The winning ticket, bought in Leicester, would have allowed the holder to claim a EuroMillions UK Millionaire Maker prize from the draw on Tuesday, December 23.
A National Lottery spokesman said that as the deadline has now passed the money, plus the interest it earned, has now gone to help National Lottery-funded projects across the UK.
He said, "Unfortunately, I can confirm that the ticket-holder did not come forward within the deadline to claim their prize and has now sadly missed out on this substantial amount of money.
"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."
Every week EuroMillions UK Millionaire Maker guarantees to create two UK millionaires — one on Tuesday and one on Friday.
For every EuroMillions line played, UK players automatically receive a UK Millionaire Maker code printed on their ticket. Matching that code exactly with the number randomly drawn by the lottery nets a £1 million (US$1.58 million) prize.
The National Lottery players raise on average over £34 million for National Lottery-funded projects every week.
Since 1994, £33 billion has been raised by National Lottery players, which has been awarded to National Lottery-funded projects across the arts, sports, heritage, health, education, environment, charity and voluntary sectors.
Local projects which have benefited include Community Learning in Beaumont Leys.
The initiative received a £9,986 grant which will be used to work with unemployed young people and adults by providing them with one-to-one employment support and coaching
Charnwood Learning Centre also received a grant of £8,925 to run a course on British culture and language for women whose mother tongue is not English.
With all National Lottery draws, players have 180 days from the day of the draw to claim their prize if they have the winning ticket.
Anyone who believes they have the winning ticket for any of the National Lottery draws within the 180-day deadline should call the National Lottery Line on 0845 910 0000.
All UK National Lottery winning numbers are published at Lottery Post's UK National Lottery Results page soon after each drawing.
Thanks to myturn for the tip.
This kind of irritates me because the lottery suits win again
That ticket probably belonged to somebody who really needs the cash.
Maybe.
But just how hard is it to check your ticket. Over 6 months? Can't really blame the "suits" for a player's ignorance.
No, the money will benefit worthy causes.
"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."
It's all about" Not checking your tickets" . Sad really.
Then whoever missed out on the money probably should have kept track of their tickets. If the money isn't claimed it has to go somewhere.
And really, a lot of prizes wouldn't go unclaimed if people kept track of where they placed their tickets or even checked them.
So many players just toss their tickets wherever and then forget about them or they get thrown away. It's really not that hard to have a safe spot to put the tickets once your purchase them. People really need to start treating their tickets as if they could be worth thousands or millions of dollars.
Got it till it's gone. It's the nightmare of lottery players around the world. *shrugs in disgust*
The ticket owner might have died, after tucking it into a book or some other favourite place they always put their tickets. If the heirs just tossed out granddad's things without checking through everything ... gone.
It just blew out the car's window.
A gust of wind will do that.
Subscriptions, which are very convenient, is also a very safe way to play, you can't loose the ticket.
When players fail to claim their winnings, that money should be put back into the pot. All this nonsense about using the money for a good cause is just that.. pure nonsense. Put the money back where it belongs.
Subscriptions are the best way to go, you can't loose your tickets.
In Germany they use unclaimed prizes for raffles and prizes such as cars or the like.
Or "Silvestermillionen", which is 10€ per ticket and gives a 1:750 000 chance to win 1M €.
The state already takes its cut from the ticket price, anything else is just greedy.
I prefer the UK model:
National Lottery players have 180 days to claim prizes on winning tickets, after which the prize money is donated to the Good Causes fund.
Good Causes is the collective term used to refer to the social and charitable organisations that receive lottery funding.
In the UK, 28p from every £1 spent on UK Lotto tickets is allocated to the National Lottery Good Causes Fund which generates approximately £30 million for the fund every week.
These funds are then divided between twelve organisations according to a formula set by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The UK Lotto plays no role in deciding how funds raised for good causes are distributed between organisations or which charities will receive support from those organisations.
Raising revenue for the benefit of society is why lotteries have existed for centuries.
Long may it continue!
All UK Lottery prizes are paid as a lump sum and are tax-free.
Of all money spent on National Lottery games:
50% goes to the prize fund.
28% to 'good causes' as set out by Parliament.
12% to the UK Government as duty.
5% to retailers as commissions.
5% to operator Camelot, with 4.5% to cover operating costs and 0.5% as profit.