You have heard how unbelievably big jackpots remain unclaimed for a lot of time, but what if we told you that there are jackpots which have remained unclaimed to this day? Without a doubt, winning big does not happen every day. So, why would anyone miss their chance of becoming a multi-millionaire?
While we can not answer that question, we can present you with a list of some of the biggest unclaimed lottery prizes.
The biggest unclaimed jackpot in the UK
Believe it or not, a staggering EuroMillions jackpot worth £65 million remained unclaimed in the UK. The jackpot was won back in 2012 and has remained unclaimed ever since. According to statistics, this is the largest unrequested lottery jackpot in UK lottery history.
Of course, lottery officials tried their best to find the lucky winner but their attempts remained largely unsuccessful. Apparently, the winning ticket was purchased in the Stevenage and Hitchin region in Hertfordshire. When lottery personnel realised their investigation will hardly be successful, they decided to launch a public campaign to find the winner, which ended up unsuccessful as well. In the end, the lucky player missed the deadline to claim their jackpot (which is 180 days, by the way) and thus ended up the unluckiest person in the UK.
Another unknown lotto player lands £24,501,283 Jackpot back in 2017, the prize remain unclaimed till today.
In 1994, a National Lottery Good Causes fund was established and when the jackpot claiming deadline expired, the jackpot was added to the fund. Over the years, the fund has raised more than £38 billion. At present, the National Lottery Good Causes fund subsidises about 535,000 projects all over the UK.
The jackpot that got unclaimed twice
Okay, it is sad if one player does not claim their jackpot, but when two people do it – that is certainly a shock. Believe it or not, the next unclaimed jackpot we will discuss has such a story.
In 2006, the UK National Lottery yielded a jackpot amounting to £1.667 million and, according to officials, the sum had to be split between two lucky players. Neither of them, however, came to claim their prize in time.
Lottery officials found out that one of the winning tickets was bought in Glasgow, whereas the other was purchased in Warwickshire.
US’s largest unrequested jackpot
Even though there are many unclaimed lottery jackpots in the Old Continent, there are some in the US as well. Some good news for players that prefer to play online, if they choose one of these featured jackpot slots they could never be wrong, because the winnings are payed instantly.
In August 2015, one player won the jackpot of a California-only lottery game called SuperLotto Plus. The jackpot was a staggering sum of $63 million and, as you might guess, nobody claimed it. When the claiming deadline expired in February 2016, the SuperLotto Plus jackpot became the US’s largest unrequested jackpot.
In a EuroMillions lottery fashion, the lucky player had exactly 180 days to come forward and claim the prize. Moreover, there were a number of media reports to publicise the issue. In the end, in spite of all attempts, the lottery jackpot remained unclaimed. At least until the deadline expired. Or was it so?
According to Brandy Milliner, a citizen from the Los Angeles Country, he was the lottery winner. The man said he purchased the winning ticket on August 8, 2015 and went to claim their prize shortly after winning. Mr. Milliner submitted the ticket and received a congratulatory note, but was soon contacted again to be told that he could not receive the jackpot because the ticket was too damaged.
On the other hand, lottery personnel said they had never been contacted by Mr. Milliner. So far, we do not know which side to trust, but we do know that Mr. Milliner has not claimed the lottery money. What is more, he has tried to sue the SuperLotto Plus and has said in an interview he will continue to pursue legal action if necessary.
In any case, coming forward with a terribly damaged ticket is an ingenious move.
Mega Millions unclaimed jackpot
One of the most widespread lotteries in the US, has a rich history of unclaimed bonuses, too.
A New York citizen bought a Mega Millions ticket on August 1, 2006 and won $31 million. The lucky winner failed to grasp they have won, apparently, for the jackpot remained unclaimed.
From October, 2018 there is $1.5bn Mega Millions lottery jackpot still unclaimed, if you are the lucky one you still have the chance to claim it, until 5pm on 19 April.
Unclaimed lottery jackpots in Canada
North of the US border, you can find another set of unclaimed lottery prizes. According to statistics, Canada has a record of unclaimed lottery jackpots, which is not as big as that of Europe and the USA.
According to statistics, about $2.19 Million Jackpot prizes expired back in 2014. what is interesting is that most of the unclaimed prizes were worth between CA$2 and CA$10.
In fact, the biggest unclaimed lottery jackpot in Canada was worth CA$5 million and was hit back in 2004. before that, a lottery jackpot of CA$4.5 million remained unclaimed in the early 1989.
