A not-so-lucky lottery winner has missed out on a life-changing sum of money after failing to claim their prize.
But there’s still good news because the £1 million jackpot will instead be donated to good causes.
The winning £1,000,000 Millionaire Raffle ticket, bought in Rochdale , was from a Lotto draw on December 5 last year.
Whether it was washed with the dirty laundry, or simply thrown away, the cash still remained unclaimed when the collection deadline passed 180 days later.
Camelot bosses say the money will now be donated to charitable projects and causes.
A National Lottery spokesperson 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 amazing prize.
“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.”
Since 1994, National Lottery players have raised more than £35 billion which has been awarded to National Lottery-funded projects across the arts, sports, heritage, health, education, environment, charity and voluntary sectors.
They did what???
Some of the projects in Rochdale include Groundwork Oldham and Rochdale, which received funding to promote better awareness and understanding of healthy food in schools by creating allotments on school grounds and Falinge Park, one of the hundreds of parks and open spaces in Britain that have been revitalised using money from The National Lottery, awarded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.
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 has any queries or 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 0844 338 7551.
For further information call 0844 338 5461 or visit www.national-lottery.co.uk .
