Lottery winner misses out on £64M unclaimed jackpot but it’s a bonanza for charities who will receive the cash

The winner of the huge lottery windfall bought their ticket in the Stevenage or Hitchin area of Hertfordshire (pictured is central Hitchin)

The winner of the huge lottery windfall bought their ticket in the
Stevenage or Hitchin area of Hertfordshire (pictured is central Hitchin)

A National Lottery spokeswoman 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 staggering amount of money.

GOOD CAUSES FUND:WHERE THE MONEY MIGHT BE SPENT

Deadline: An unlucky lottery winner stands to lose £64million unless they claim their prize by 11pm

Kidz Unlimited – Charity Whizz Kidz runs the Kidz Unlimited project which provides young disabled people with local fun and friendship clubs and camps across England, spaces to learn new skills and build confidence, as well as access to tailored work placements.

Drumatik – Drumatik, a community drumming group in West Fife is making a life-changing difference to the lives of its members.
 
Surf Action CIC – Surf Action works with service personnel returning from active service from all conflicts, by providing special therapeutic surfing sessions to help them get back to community life.
 
Oasis Domestic Abuse Service –   The Thanet-based service offers emergency safe and temporary accommodation to women suffering from domestic violence, and their children.
 
Brighter Future Workshop – This group enhances the lives of people with disabilities and others who are disadvantaged.
 
The Phoenix Group for Deaf Children (North Hertfordshire)   This group helps deaf children and their families to communicate, enabling the child to fully integrate into their home life and social community.

‘The
vast majority of prizes are claimed within the 180 days but to avoid
this unfortunate situation happening again, we would urge all National Lottery players to check their tickets on a regular basis.’

The distribution of the money will be the responsibility of 13 lottery
distribution bodies across the country.

Health, Education, Environment, and charitable causes will receive the lion’s share of the winnings, at 46 per cent.

Sports, The Arts and Heritage will each receive 18 per cent.

Michael
Thompson, a spokesman for The National Lottery Good Causes, said:
‘Countless good causes will benefit from this unclaimed prize.

‘National Lottery players should be proud that they are helping so many good causes in their own area.”

‘In theory, the £64 million unclaimed prize would fund over 6,000 minibuses to help kids with disabilities.

‘The
£64 million would also fund the improvement of approximately 7,800 play
areas for children across the UK and build over 1,000 village
halls/community centres across the UK’.

National
Lottery officials launched a desperate search for the holder, raising
awareness through adverts and posters – with even a town crier
proclaiming the win from a Lamborghini.

All
lottery players were urged to check their tickets and search some of the
more unusual places where “lost” tickets have been found in the past,
such as in bin bags, wedged down the back of sofas and stashed in car
sun visors.

The
lottery spokeswoman added: ‘We tried very hard to find the
ticket-holder, with lots of awareness-raising activity over the past 180
days, and it’s a real shame that they have missed out, but there is
still one winner – the nation.

In 2001 Martyn Tott, a purchasing
manager from Watford, missed out on a jackpot of £3,011,065 after losing
his ticket. Using computer records, he was able to prove the winning
ticket was his but Camelot refused to pay out — since the rules state
that the winner must have their ticket to claim their fortune.

The
decision sparked a national furore, with even the then Prime Minister
Tony Blair championing Mr Tott’s cause — but all in vain.

WHO DOESN’T WANT TO BE A MILLIONAIRE? BIGGEST UNCLAIMED PRIZES

The prize money would have allowed the
winner to buy 339 houses at the  average Stevenage price of £190,000  or
— should the urge take them — more than two million bottles of
champagne.

It would
also have made them a good deal richer than the commuter town’s most
glamorous son, F1 driver Lewis Hamilton (who is worth a reported
£55 million), and almost three times wealthier than local Harry Potter
star Rupert Grint (worth a relatively paltry £24 million).

In 2004, £7 million went unclaimed in Belfast, and in September 2007 a £6.9 million win wasn’t claimed in Devon.

Winner: Past Stevenage lottery winners include Sharon Creighton pictured celebrating with her son James at Knebworth House in 2005

Winner: Past Stevenage lottery winners include Sharon Creighton pictured celebrating with her son James at Knebworth House in 2005

Loser: Martyn Tott, from Watford, missed out on a £3million jackpot when he didn't claim a lottery win in time

Loser: Martyn Tott, from Watford, missed out on a £3million jackpot when he didn’t claim a lottery win in time

What £64million could have bought

Yesterday
a drawing by Italian artist Raphael fetched a record £29 million at
auction – a price that would leave the ticket holder with plenty of cash
left in their pocket.

A Boeing 737 plane

If their art tastes are more modern, Damien Hirst’s diamond-encrusted skull is worth £50 million.

60 Eurocopters

A five-bedroom house in Belgravia, London, with a labyrinth
of subterranean rooms, including a ballroom, swimming pool and gym – a
snip at £16 million.

7,000 Rolex Daytona watches

A Sunseeker yacht in the Mediterranean might cost £4.75 million

90,000 pairs of Christian Louboutin shoes

Pay the wages bill for
Manchester City’s first team for a season

500,000 bottles of 2002 Dom Perignon 200

Until now the largest unclaimed sum is £9.4 million, on a ticket that was bought in Doncaster in July 2005. 

Camelot’s Simon Horne says: ‘We all want winners to get their money but there must be a deadline.

Otherwise
every prize would just go on indefinitely. But this way billions of
pounds have gone to good causes over the years — from funding the
Olympics through bodies like Sport England to local playgroups and Scout
clubs.’

Still, the psychological fallout of a near miss can be devastating.

After Mr Tott was denied his millions
he plunged into depression, separated from his partner and moved to
America, where he joined an evangelical cult. He has since returned and,
claiming to have found happiness, written a book about his ordeal.

Residents
in Stevenage can readily imagine the pain of losing a winning ticket.
Marion Johnson, 56, a human resources manager, says: ‘Can you imagine?
It would be awful. It’s money that could completely change your life. If
that were me, I’d feel sick.’

Of course, the treasure hunt would not be needed if Camelot revealed  the precise place where the winning ticket was sold.

Purchasing
records mean that they can easily identify the shop — but the company’s
licence forbids it from making that information public in order to
maximise the winner’s chances of anonymity.

WATCH THE HUNT FOR THE LOTTERY LOSER

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