Lottery winner fails to claim £3m prize

A £3MILLION National Lottery jackpot won by someone who bought the ticket in Stirling has gone unclaimed and will now be donated to good causes.

Lottery operators Camelot said that the deadline to claim the £3,062,272 prize from the Lotto Quadruple Rollover draw last December 17 has passed and the money will now be donated to charity.

A nationwide search was launched for the ticket holder, who would have received the life-changing amount plus all the interest it had accumulated while sitting unclaimed for 180 days.

But the jackpot has now gone to help Lottery-funded projects across the UK.

A Lottery spokesman said: “Unfortunately, I can confirm that the ticket-holder did not come forward within the deadline to claim the prize and has now sadly missed out on this substantial amount of money.

“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 is a 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.”

It came as Lottery operators Camelot announced sweeping changes to the game that will take effect this year. Players will have to select their winning numbers from a pool of 59 — up from the current 49.

Camelot claimed the “enhancements” will give players a better chance of winning and better odds of becoming a millionaire.

A new Millionaire Raffle will guarantee at least one millionaire per draw, the average winning jackpot is expected to be triple the current level, and the chances of winning at least £1 million will be better than the chances of winning the jackpot on the current game.