A once-lucky winner from London has missed out on millions after they failed to claim their winning ticket.
The ticket was bought in Bexley on October 4 last year, according to the National Lottery. When nobody came forward to claim the life-changing £10 million sum, an extensive search to find the winner began.
But the 180-day deadline has now been hit and, with no winner claiming the exact £10,633,323 jackpot, the money is now set to be donated to charity.
“Despite an extensive search for the mystery Bexley millionaire, I can confirm that the ticket-holder did not come forward to claim their Lotto prize and has now unfortunately missed out on this life-changing sum of money,” said Andy Carter, the senior winners’ adviser at Allwyn, which operates for the National Lottery.
“However, the money will now benefit Good Causes and add to the £33m raised each week for National Lottery-funded projects, several of which can be found in the Bexley area.”
A spokesperson for Allwyn also said that it is “very unusual” for a prize of this size not to be claimed.
“The majority of prizes that would go unclaimed would be the smaller tier prizes,” they said
The £10 million prize isn’t the only one not to be claimed. At present, there are currently five “major” National Lottery prizes worth over £3.2 million yet to be claimed.
Three of these tickets are £1 million EuroMillions or Lotto tickets.
The National Lottery says players have supported a number of projects across Bexley, including The Exchange Erith, a community-led arts and crafts organisation and You and Me Happy Family Children’s Disability Trust, which provides inclusive support for disabled children and their carers.
Saturday’s Lotto jackpot, meanwhile, will be an estimated £3.9 million. No player won the top prize on Wednesday night.
The jackpot requires all six main numbers. One player matched five numbers and the bonus ball to win £1 million.
A total of 56 players each won £1,750 after they matched five of the six numbers.
The winning numbers were 7, 16, 23, 27, 35, 40 and the bonus number was 48.
