Life changing

Are YOU a secret millionaire? Giant prizes waiting to be claimed

Amazingly there are some people carrying on with their everyday lives unaware they are millionaires. Imagine finding out that there is a giant cheque with your name on it just waiting for your call.

One ticket bought in the Borough of Barking and Dagenham for the 12th September Lotto draw is now worth £4.6M. If you think you, or anyone you know, may have the six winning numbers then it is time to get checking. Give us a call with the ticket in hand and the prize is yours.

There are currently four missing millionaires from the Lotto Millionaire Raffle draw on 10th October. The tickets were purchased in retailers in Leeds, Worcester, Tameside and Huntingdonshire. For a short time on the night of this draw our website displayed a test screen of dummy Lotto Millionaire Raffle numbers rather than the winning numbers, this was quickly fixed, so we are now urging all players to check and double check their tickets.

Someone who bought a ticket in the Cheltenham area has business class flights to the Big Apple waiting for them. The EuroMillions Millionaire Maker winner from the 31st July draw won £1M and an exclusive trip to New York – all they have to do is turn up with their ticket.

So it’s time to check, re-check and check again all your tickets to see if you are a lucky winner. Whether it is £25 or £4.6M we want to unite every player with their cash so they can start enjoying their life-changing win.

Also contact friends and family in the areas to see if they could be celebrating a big win. You never know they may say thanks by buying you a drink – or even take you to New York with them!

Check and check again

Luckily, most players check their tickets, or get a message in their inbox, and claim their winnings in a flash. Every now and then, there are prizes which need a helping hand to be claimed. Discover how we work to pair a prize with its long-lost winner…

How long have I got?

Every player has 180 days from the day of the draw to claim their prize. So, for the four £1M winners from the special Lotto draw on 10th October 2015, the player needs to come forward with the ticket in hand before the clock ticks past midnight on Thursday 7th April 2016.

How soon after the draw do you try and find the winner?

The details of unclaimed prizes are released around two weeks after the draw. This gives a reasonable amount of time after the draw for players to have had a chance to check their tickets. It also allows time for a potential winner, who thinks they may have lost their ticket, to get in touch with us – they need to do this in writing before the 30th day after the draw.

How do you try to find the winner?

We do a variety of things to try and get people talking about the prize, which will hopefully prompt the winner to check their ticket. The media are always keen to talk about local winners and they love to try and help reunite one of their readers, listeners or viewers with their cash.

We plan stunts, use local celebrities or sports teams to talk about the prize and arrange interviews with the media, all designed to build a buzz and get people talking about the unclaimed cash.

The prize details are shared on Facebook and Twitter which is a great way to reach lots of people directly. Also, details of all the largest unclaimed prizes unclaimed prizes are also always available on The National Lottery website.

Why don’t you say which shop the ticket was purchased in?

When releasing details of an unclaimed prize, we have to balance raising awareness of the prize with every player’s right to remain anonymous. We identify an area of around 100,000 people and have found that this gets people talking about the prize, but doesn't mean the winner feels they have to share their news after their claim.

The majority of lottery winners don’t choose to go public when they claim their prize. If we had released details of the shop the winning ticket was bought in, then the likelihood of being able to identify the winner, possibly against their wishes, dramatically increases.

If it isn't claimed where does the money go?

If no one comes forward in the 180 days then the prize money, plus all the interest it has generated while it is held in trust, goes to National Lottery-funded projects across the UK. Our players change the lives of individuals as well as communities by raising, on average, over £34 million for National Lottery-funded projects every week.

The National Lottery has been changing the lives of winners and supporting good causes across the UK since 1994. In that time, there have been more than 7,000 new millionaires created and by playing The National Lottery you raise over £4 million for Good Causes every dayΔ.

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