Did you miss out on a Lotto prize?

Three Lotto players unknowingly missed out on almost €1 million in lotto jackpot prizes last year as three Lotto Plus jackpot prizes were never claimed. The most recent win was a Lotto Plus 1 jackpot prize from 28th June worth €350,000, purchased in Skerries, Co Dublin. Another two Lotto Plus 2 prizes dating back to April 19th and June 18th were valued at €250,000 each but neither were claimed. The tickets were purchased in Loughrea, Co Galway and Dublin City Centre respectively.

Unfortunately for the three ticketholders, the claim period of 90 days has passed so the prizes can no longer be claimed. Some may wonder what happens to unclaimed prize money; National Lottery spokeswoman Paula McAvoy says ‘it’s good news for players as the National Lottery uses unclaimed prize money to fund all types of Lottery promotions so that the money goes back to players as soon as possible’.

Unclaimed prize money is used to supplement the normal jackpot cash prizes. The first of these promotions for 2009 is a Valentine’s Day Diamond Giveaway. If a player wins a Match 5 plus Bonus prize of €25,000 on the night, they also win an additional €100,000 in diamonds or the cash equivalent if they prefer. The National Lottery runs promotions like this throughout the year and often provides additional prizes like cars to jackpot winners.

Last year’s biggest jackpot, a staggering €18.9 million, was collected by a sixteen member syndicate from Carlow. The syndicate based at Dan Morrissey (Ireland) Limited had played the lotto together for years and had picked up various other wins along the way. The syndicate collected their massive Quickpick win from National Lottery headquarters in Dublin’s Abbey Street on July 1st, three days after scooping the jackpot on June 28th.

The National Lottery’s role is to raise funds for the Government which allocates money to good causes through the Department of Finance. €245.5 million was raised for good causes by the National Lottery in 2007, and over the course of 2008 this money was donated to good causes by government departments. Over the coming months the National Lottery will hand over millions of euro to the government from 2008 revenue which it will then allocate to organisations which have applied for beneficiary funding. Despite the tightening economic circumstances in the second half of 2008 the National Lottery expects the amount of money to be made available to government from 2008 will be an increase on what was raised in 2007.

Over €2.85 billion has been raised for good causes since the foundation of the National Lottery in 1996.

(photo from lotto.ie)