EuroMillions lottery jackpot of $102 million goes unclaimed

USPA News - A mystery lottery player has lost out on £63.8 million ($102.4 million) after the deadline to claim the prize expired on late Wednesday evening, officials from transnational EuroMillions lottery confirmed on Thursday. It is the lottery`s biggest ever unclaimed prize.

The winning ticket for the June 8 draw, which coincided with the start of the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship and was the weekend after the Royal Flotilla for Queen Elizabeth II`s Diamond Jubilee, was purchased at an unidentified store in the Stevenage or Hitchin area of Hertfordshire. The National Lottery in the United Kingdom had launched a nationwide campaign to find the mystery lottery player, but no one came forward by the 11 p.m. deadline on Wednesday. It means the prize and interest accrued on it will instead go to the National Lottery Good Causes which funds a wide range of projects. While the vast majority of prizes are usually claimed within the 180 day period, the enormous jackpot prize was not the only prize which went unclaimed following the draw on June 8. Lottery officials said a ticket which was sold in the Monmouthshire area of southeast Wales was worth £102,891 ($165,140) but had also not been claimed by Wednesday night.