A £1m Lotto Winner Has Failed to Come Forward to Collect the Prize

by Roy Brindley, 13 February 2026

More money is set to go to good causes as a £1 million ticket holder fails to come forward.

Time has run out to redeem £1 million from a winning EuroMillions Millionaire Maker ticket purchased in Birmingham. © Getty Images

Key Facts:

• Deadline passes for a £1 million lotto winner coming forward to claim their prize.
• The money will now go to the National Lottery distribution fund for good causes.
• Six major UK National Lottery prizes worth £13 million are yet to be claimed.

Despite a last-minute appeal, the owner of a winning £1 million EuroMillions Millionaire Maker ticket, purchased last August in Birmingham, failed to present their ticket before it became invalid on Wednesday night.

Under the UK’s National Lottery rules, winning players have 180 days from the draw date to claim their prize. With no one stepping forward before the February 11 deadline, the seven-figure unclaimed sum, along with interest, will be transferred by Allwyn, the lottery operator, to the National Lottery distribution fund.

The Fund is used to support a wide range of good cause projects across the UK, such as arts and culture (theatres, museums, community arts), sports initiatives and facilities, heritage and local history projects, environmental and educational work and charitable and voluntary sector activities.

Millions in Misplaced Tickets and Unclaimed Prizes

Many unclaimed prizes result from people forgetting to check their tickets or discarding them in pockets, drawers, and glove compartments. Famously, in 2018, a Lincolnshire builder drove around with a £76 million EuroMillions winning ticket tucked away in his van’s sun visor for six weeks before he checked his numbers.

Currently, there are six major National Lottery prizes – totalling more than £13 million – yet to be claimed across the UK. The biggest is a whopping £10.6 million Lotto Match 6 winning ticket purchased in the London Borough of Bexley ahead of the October 4, 2025, draw. Its owner has until April 2 to come forward.

Later in April, a £1 million Match 5 +Bonus ticket purchased in South Gloucestershire will expire. Another £1 million ticket, purchased in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole district of Southern England, is also yet to be presented. Its owner has until May 3 to come forward.

The largest recorded unclaimed EuroMillions jackpot was €162,256,512. The winning ticket was purchased in October 2024 in a small town in Spain’s Basque Country. The biggest unclaimed EuroMillions prize in UK history was £63.8 million ‘won’ in June 2012.

Irish Prizes Have Also Gone Unclaimed

Unclaimed winning lottery rules in Ireland – a country that has fared well in the EuroMillion jackpot stakes – are different to those in the UK. Ticketholders have just 90 days to claim their prize before tickets become void. Ireland’s National Lottery then uses the unclaimed funds to promote its lottery.

That advertising fund was bolstered by €500,000 in January after the owner of a Daily Millions Plus ticket bought at a County Donegal filling station failed to come forward. Currently, there is a €95,070 EuroMillions prize-winning ticket, purchased in Dublin, that has yet to be produced.