Scotland’s unluckiest punter? It could be you!

‘Unwitting’ lotto winner to lose £58m if they fail to claim prize by midnight

THE EuroMillions winner of £58 million has only hours to claim a huge windfall and join the ranks of the super-rich – or lose the lot.

Despite repeated appeals by lottery operator Camelot, the mystery owner of the winning ticket has yet to come forward.

The £57,879,670 cheque will go into the fund for good causes if the winner cannot produce proof by midnight tonight.

A successful claimant would become richer than Harry Potter star Emma Watson, whose fortune is estimated at £57 million, as well as One Direction’s Niall Horan, who has £50 million, and pop band Little Mix, with £48 million.

The ticket was bought in Ayrshire for the March 17 draw. Hopes of a claim were raised in April when someone contacted Camelot to say they had won the prize – but the lottery operator refused to pay out as the ticket could not be authenticated. Yesterday, a Camelot spokeswoman said: ‘We can confirm that we received a claim on this prize in April but we don’t comment on the detail of individual claims.

‘However, as with all major prizes, any claim goes through a rigorous validation process to ensure the prize can be paid under the National Lottery Game Rules.

‘With all National Lottery draws, players have 180 days from the day of the draw to claim their prize. If a valid claim is not received within this period, the prize money is passed to good causes.’

When asked if the winner might have passed away during the Covid19 pandemic and family might be unaware of the ticket, the spokeswoman declined to speculate.

The money was won by matching five balls and two stars. The winning numbers were 5, 7, 8, 16 and 20. The lucky stars were 2 and 12.

A further £1 million will go to charity on Wednesday if the winner of a EuroMillions Millionaire Maker prize fails to claim. That ticket, bought in Leeds on March 20, has the code MGKX92653.

In 2012, a EuroMillions prize fund of £65 million went to good causes after the winning ticket, bought in Hertfordshire, went unclaimed.

Scotland’s biggest ever lottery winners were Colin and Chris Weir, from Largs, Ayrshire, who scooped £161 million on EuroMillions in 2011.

‘The prize money is passed to good causes’