Aussies are being urged to keeep an eye out for unchecked lottery tickets, with more than $21.4m in prizemoney waiting to be claimed.
Twelve of the unclaimed prizes were sold in NSW, five in Queensland, two each in the ACT, Victoria, and WA, and one in SA, according to The Lott.
These winning tickets were not registered with a player card or an online account, so lottery officers have so far been unable to track down the mystery winners.
The Lott spokesman Matt Hart said some Aussies only needed to check their tickets and could be starting 2025 with a huge prize in their bank accounts.
“Whether it’s tucked in a drawer, stuck on the fridge or hidden in your wallet, that forgotten lottery ticket could hold the ultimate post-Christmas surprise – a major win!” he said.
It comes as The Lott this week announced that there are 24 major prizes – 10 of which are greater than $1 million – yet to be claimed by unaware ticket holders.
The amount of time people have to claim lottery prizes directly from The Lott varies by state, with Queenslanders getting up to seven years compared to only 12 months in Victoria.
It could pay off for one Queensland resident, who if they find and cash in the ticket they purchased at Helensvale in August 2018 could see a cool $671,000 from that year’s Saturday Gold Lotto prize land in their account.
In a more recent example, a Set for Life ticket purchased in the NSW South Coast town of Kiama won a $4.8m prize that is also yet to be claimed.
A resident in Canberra’s south could claim the same whopping amount if they find the winning entry purchased in Woden three years ago.
Mr Hart said The Lott wants to pay the prizes to their rightful winners, but can only do so for unregistered winners if they check their ticket in-store online or via The Lott app.
“We’re in the business of paying prizes, so we’re reminding everyone to check any lottery tickets they find as they clean up around the home or car during the holidays.
“We’ve had some winners discover their good fortune months and even years after the winning numbers were drawn.
“They often tell us that their winning ticket was hiding in plain sight the whole time and just waiting to be checked.”
TOP FIVE UNCLAIMED PRIZES
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