WINNING the lottery only to then realise you lost your ticket might be one of the worst feelings on Earth.
Many unfortunate winners saw their luck run out after throwing their tickets in the bin, leaving them forgotten in their glovebox, or having them just somehow vanish into thin air.
Amo Riselli was without his winning slip for two days before he eventually found it and claimed his prize[/caption]
Lottery winners only have 180 days to make a claim for their winnings[/caption]
After the winner of an £83.4m EuroMillions jackpot took nearly two weeks to claim their prize, we reveal the worst cases of people losing their golden tickets.
Martyn Tott from Watford, Hertfordshire, missed out on a £3m lottery jackpot after he lost his ticket.
Despite computer records proving the ticket was his, Martyn – then aged 25 – lost out on the cash as he couldn’t show his physical slip.
The purchasing manager and his wife Kay only realised they had won six months after the numbers were called, at which point they couldn’t find the ticket they bought.
Going to their local Londis, they proved via its records that they had purchased the winning ticket in 2001 but were still refused the money after 45 agonising days of waiting.
This all came as they hadn’t registered the loss of the paper slip within 30 days.
Devastated by the loss, his marriage to Kay quickly broke down and he briefly joined a Christian cult in the US as his life spiralled out of control.
Martyn told the Mail on Sunday: “Having that money taken away was torture.
“For a long time I lost sight of who I was and what I believed in.”
Martyn had planned to quit his job, move into a plush mansion and go on a round-the-world trip with the £3,011,065 jackpot.
But his plans turned to ash when lottery organiser Camelot and then numerous lawyers told him there was nothing he could do to appeal the refusal.
However, not everyone is as unfortunate as Martyn was.
Dad-of-five Amo Riselli, then-aged 50, scooped a £24.5m jackpot after losing his ticket for two days.
The taxi driver from Gloucester revealed he had accidentally left the winning ticket in his glove compartment for two days before realising his success.
Despite only matching five numbers, nobody had managed to secure all six and so the jackpot, which had to be won, rolled down to him.
In the miraculous turn of events, he then claimed his ticket and took home the cheque for £24,501,283.
The cabbie then said how he planned to retire with the grand winnings and buy a Ferrari.
Builder Andrew Clarke had a similar surprise in 2018 after he lost his £76m EuroMillions winning ticket.
The 51-year-old had been urged to check his tickets by his partner and niece who had heard about the unclaimed prize on the news.
He eventually found the winning ticket in the visor of his van a whole six weeks after the draw.
At the time he said: “It almost feels like some magical Christmas story, the man who nearly lost £76 million!”
The National Lottery uses any unclaimed winnings to provide funding support for projects[/caption]
Turning back to unfortunate cases, however, one EuroMillions player missed out on a giant jackpot after losing their ticket.
The winning numbers had been chosen in Rhondda Cynon Taf near Cardiff in South Wales but the winner missed the claiming window for their prize.
Losing out on the multi-million pound prize, we may never know how they lost their ticket or if they had perhaps not even realised they won the jackpot – the lottery gave their winnings to charity instead.
Senior winners’ advisor at The National Lottery Andy Carter 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 substantial amount of money.
“However, the money will now add to the £30m raised each week for National Lottery-funded projects.”
If a prize is unclaimed after a couple of weeks the National Lottery will try and raise awareness in the nearby community.
It will put ads in football clubs in the area or will talk about the prize on the local radio station.
But some prizes are never cashed in and eventually expire.
One player once bagged a staggering £63.8million – but never claimed their winnings.
The winner bought the EuroMillions ticket in the Stevenage or Hitchin area of Hertfordshire.
The ticket matched all five numbers in the draw on June 8, 2012.
Although the lottery visited Stevenage and Hitchin with two giant billboards mounted on trucks, which read: “Are you the lucky £63.8million winner?”, the winner never came forward.
MILLIONS OF POUNDS WORTH OF PRIZES UNCLAIMED
It was revealed last year that more than £57.6m worth of prizes went unclaimed by Lott, EuroMillions and scratchcard players in the ten months to the end of January 2024.
Winners have just 180 days after the closing date of the draw to claim the prize or it all can be lost.
Just last month The Sun revealed the areas in the UK that had the highest value unclaimed lottery prizes.
As of 11 January, there were nine lottery prizes up for grabs, worth a total of £9,064,694 combined.
The biggest winner of this group lives in Sevenoaks, Kent.
They matched all six numbers in a Set For Life draw in October, which means they have won £10,000 every month for 30 years.
The clock is ticking as they have until April to claim their prize.
There are also five £1million prizes which are still unclaimed.
The unaware millionaires live in Lambeth, Bury, Swansea, Sefton and Buckinghamshire.
Meanwhile, one lucky winner has just two months left to claim their winnings.
National Lottery publicity manager Patrick Lisoire explains that winners often get caught up in their own lives and can forget to check their tickets.
“Winners have busy lives,” he said.
“Some people save up a stack of tickets and check them every few weeks.
“Others forget to check in the lead up to Christmas, birthdays or holidays and decide to check them when they get back.”
