30 Apr Players Urged to Take a Lockdown Look for Missing £134K EuroMillions Ticket in Chelmsford
As the UK continues to go through the home lockdown routine, The National Lottery is encouraging players to take the opportunity for a lockdown look at their unchecked tickets, with a £134,316.20 EuroMillions prize from a ticket bought in Chelmsford still to be claimed.
Tickets for millions of pounds worth of prizes from Lotto, EuroMillions and Thunderball draws within the last 180 days are just waiting to be dug out, checked and claimed. In the current crisis, The National Lottery is asking players to check either online via The National Lottery website or through The National Lottery App, rather than taking a trip to the shops unless it is part of an essential shop.
The lockdown search is still on to find the owner of the winning ticket from the EuroMillions draw on 28 February 2020 – bought in Chelmsford – who matched the five main numbers and one Lucky Star number in the draw. The winning numbers on that date were 8, 11, 20, 22, 23 and the Lucky Star numbers were 3 and 4. The lucky ticket-holder has until 26 August 2020 to make their claim1.
Camelot’s Andy Carter, Senior Winners’ Advisor at The National Lottery, said, “While we are all trying to do the right thing by staying indoors at the moment, it’s a good opportunity to dig out and check those old lottery tickets – a five minute check might just unearth a fortune! We know that lots of players often have unchecked tickets lying around, and this is an opportunity for a bit of spring cleaning which might turn out to be very worthwhile indeed.
“If you locate any previously unchecked tickets down the back of the sofa or in one of your old winter coat pockets, there is no need to venture out to the shops to have it checked. In the current situation we’re encouraging everyone to check their tickets online via The National Lottery website or via The National Lottery App, and to only buy their tickets in retail or claim a retail prize if they are already in-store to do an essential shop. You can also scan your retail draw-based game tickets on the National Lottery app to see if you’ve won a prize.
“If you are lucky enough to have the winning ticket call the National Lottery Line on 0333 234 5050 to claim.”
Taking some time to search out and check your tickets has proven very worthwhile in the past – Andrew Clark, a self-employed builder, claimed his £76.3M EuroMillions jackpot from the draw on 2 November, 2018 a full six week after the draw. Andrew, from Boston in Lincolnshire, had a habit of hoarding his tickets in the visor of his work van and only got around to checking his tickets (and having the surprise of his life) after his partner and niece kept urging him to check, his niece having seen news of the missing winner in the press.
If no-one comes forward with the winning ticket before the prize claim deadline, then the prize money, plus all the interest it has generated, will go to help National Lottery-funded projects across the UK. Thanks to National Lottery players, up to £600M will be used by charities and organisations affected by the impact of the coronavirus outbreak across the arts, community and charity, heritage, education, environment and sport sectors. This includes up to £300M in funding support from the National Lottery Community Fund which will be used over the next six months to help groups best placed to support people and communities through the crisis – from helping support food banks to causes that combat loneliness and isolation, support for the elderly and projects that aid health in the community. By playing The National Lottery, an average of £30M is raised every week by National Lottery players for projects big and small across the country.
