Search for 20 lotto winners missing $25m of unclaimed winnings

One of the year’s biggest division one prizes remains unclaimed, with punters urged to go through their receipts to find the potential winning ticket.

Twenty unclaimed division one lottery prizes worth more than $25m could be handed to governments in a matter of weeks, with punters urged to search their pockets for missing tickets.

Half of the unclaimed prizes are in Queensland, seven are in New South Wales, and there’s one each in Victoria and South Australia and three in Western Australia. But at the end of June, some of the unclaimed winnings will be handed to respective governments as the prize claim period expires on two major prizes.

Matt Hart from The Lott told Sunrise there were 20 division one prizes unclaimed this year.

Matt Hart from the Lott told Sunrise the hope was always to “unite” the prizes, including a $4.8m individual win, with their winners.

“They are from unregistered entries, so people who bought a ticket but did not register to a cart or online account,” he said.

“We have had people come forward months, weeks, or even years after winning numbers were drawn to claim the prize, so we have not given up hope on this one that is for sure.”

Mr Hart said the amount of time people have to claim their lottery prizes varied from state to state, ranging from six months in Victoria to seven years in Queensland.

The $4.8 million Set for Life prize from Echuca in Victoria, and the $1.05 million Saturday X Lotto prize from Naracoorte in South Australia will expire next month

“Next month, they are handed to their respective governments, but we would much prefer to put it into the winner’s bank account,” Mr Hart said.

Mr Hart said most of the time, people found their tickets in shopping bags or on the fridge door.

“Usually, people tell us it was hiding in plain sight, in their wallet the whole time,” he said.

“Being the end of the financial year, there’s lots of paperwork moving around … Keep an eye on the lottery ticket you have not checked because it could be a winning one.”