Lottery.co.uk warns against losing lottery tickets
Released
on: October 16, 2008, 5:30 am
Press
Release Author: The
Lottery Company Ltd
Industry:
Entertainment
Press
Release Summary: Lottery.co.uk has warned lottery players to make
sure their ticket is safe after revealing that a number of large
prizes are waiting to be claimed
Press
Release Body: Lottery.co.uk, the premier web
site for independent lottery news and views, has warned lottery
players to be on their guard against losing their tickets after
revealing that a large amount of money is still to be claimed
by winners.
Lottery
tickets might only cost a relatively small amount of money to
buy, but they can be worth millions if the right numbers come
up. Unfortunately, many people fail to take care of their lottery
tickets and the end result is that they are unable to claim any
prizes that those tickets win. Lost
lottery tickets can therefore mean lost fortunes.
Winning
UK Lottery players have 180 days to claim their prize, and if
that deadline isn't met, the prize is forfeited as far as the
player is concerned. In February 2006 a prize worth £9.4
million was forfeited by a customer in Yorkshire because of this
rule, and although that is currently the biggest unclaimed prize
on record, several other multi-million pound wins have also gone
unclaimed.
According
to Lottery.co.uk,
the largest prize currently waiting to be claimed is for almost
£450,000, with other unclaimed prizes coming to a total
of over £1 million.
"Over
the past few years an astonishing number of prizes have been forfeited,"
said a Lottery.co.uk spokesman, "In
fact there is rarely a month in which at least a handful of prizes
aren't waiting to be claimed, and many of these are worth five
or six figures."
Prizes
that aren't claimed in time to meet the 180 day deadline are added
to a fund
for good causes.
If
a lost lottery ticket is found by someone else, any prize that
the ticket has won may be legally claimed by the person in possession
of the ticket due to a lottery ticket being a bearer instrument,
which means it legally belongs to the person who holds it. Lost
lottery tickets could therefore be claimed by anyone who is lucky
enough to find one before the 180 day deadline has passed.
In
an effort to stop prizes remaining unclaimed Lottery.co.uk
has recommend that players buy lottery
tickets online. Tickets bought online are uniquely associated
with the individual. This means that they can't be lost and no
prize won by a lottery ticket bought online can be claimed by
anyone else.
-ends-
About Lottery.co.uk
Lottery.co.uk is a truly independent lottery web site that provides
lottery players with everything they need to get the most from
their favourite hobby. Check the latest lottery results for all
National Lottery games,
read all about the latest lottery news stories, make use of an
informative articles archive and much more.
Web
Site: http://www.lottery.co.uk
Contact
Details: Sam Weren
The Lottery Company Ltd
PO Box 200
Harrogate
HG1 2YR
01423 507545
2012
