Lotto players miss out on £1m after failing to claim winnings before deadline

TWO Lotto players have missed the chance to claim £1 million prizes after failing to come forward on time.

The ticket holders, from South Lanarkshire and Falkirk, have lost out on seven-figure prizes after the 180-day deadline for claiming them ran out at midnight on Thursday.

Their tickets won £1m jackpots in the Millionaire Raffle of the Lotto draw on August 27 last year. The two winning codes were GREY 8746 6648 and NAVY 2918 6121.

The money they missed out on will now go to lotteryfunded community projects.

Three other millionaires from Hammersmith in London, Hull in Yorkshire, and Merthyr Tydfil and Rhondda in Wales also missed out on £1m prizes for the same draw.

The tickets were bought for a Team GB-inspired Lotto Medal Lotto draw to mark success at the Rio 2016 Olympics.

The unclaimed Lanarkshire ticket means it is the fifth time since 2006 that players from the county have lost out on seven-figure prizes by failing to come forward in time.

A punter from South Lanarkshire who bought a EuroMillions ticket on Christmas Day 2012 would have scooped £1m in the Millionaire Raffle.

Two more, also from South Lanarkshire, missed deadlines to claim prizes of £3.6m and £1m in 2012.

And someone from North Lanarkshire lost out on a £5.4 million fortune in 2006.

Lotto bosses made a number of public appeals to find the latest winners but no-one came forward to claim the cash.

Andy Carter, senior winners’ advisor at the National Lottery said: “It’s a real shame they have missed out, but there is still one winner – the nation.”