TWO mystery ticket-holders scooped £1.8million in a New Year’s Eve draw – but haven’t yet come forward to claim their winnings.
The massive jackpot winning of £22,555,000 was announced on Saturday – with 12 winners splitting the jackpot and taking home £1,861,200 each.
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Of the 12 winners, four are from Queensland, four from Victoria, three are from New South Wales and one is from Western Australia.
The two unclaimed lottery tickets were purchased in Queensland, at Nextra Orion, Springfield, and Julia Creek News, Julia Creek.
One winner of the New Year’s lottery said he and his wife didn’t sleep after finding out they’d won.
He said: “Normally I don’t really check my ticket straight away, but on Saturday night I thought I’d have a quick look.
“Then I started scrolling, and I could see all six numbers lit up. I told my wife, and we checked the ticket together.
The lucky man called the moment “surreal”, and credits his wife for picking the winning numbers.
The Forest Lake winner plans to use the win to help pay off his mortgage and help his children.
He said: “We want to give them a foot up in life.”
The Loganholme woman who had bought two tickets in the £22 million draw said she won £20 on one and scored $2million on the other.
She said: “It was a nice surprise! A good way to start the New Year.”
Anyone who purchased an entry into the Gold Lotto New Year’s Eve draw in Australia is urged to check their tickets.
The winning numbers in Saturday Gold Lotto draw 4325 on 31 December 2022 were 11, 23, 35, 42, 20 and 45.
The supplementary numbers were 8 and 38.
In Cambridge, locals are searching for a Tesco customer who left behind his winning ticket in a shopping trolley.
Richard Haslop was milling around the aisle of his local store in Cambridge when his wife made the surprise discovery.
The search for the elusive winner in Cambridge is still ongoing.
In the UK, any cash that isn’t claimed after a total of 180 days from a game played in the UK goes to National Lottery projects across the country.
Folks in Ireland have just half that time to claim too, with only 90 days before the prize money is off the table.
Once the claim period is over, the ticket officially expires and the owner of the lottery ticket will no longer be able to claim any of their winnings.
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