Families in Stevenage and neighbouring Hitchin have been rifling through purses, pulling out cushions and even employing helpers in a desperate attempt to find a lottery ticket worth nearly £64 million.
For 80,000 residents of a Hertfordshire town those four words have taken on an added urgency.
Families in Stevenage and neighbouring Hitchin have been rifling through purses, pulling out cushions and even employing helpers in a desperate attempt to find a lottery ticket worth nearly £64 million.
When lottery operators first announced the winning ticket had been bought in the area in June, they expected its owner to come forward within days to pose with a bottle of champagne and fixed grin.
Six months later, the prize is still unclaimed. Residents are being urged to have one last hunt before the 180-day deadline expires tomorrow.
If the jackpot is not claimed by 11pm tomorrow it can never be redeemed, which would make it the biggest unclaimed prize in British lottery history. If the holder of the £2 ticket can be found in time, he or she would be entitled to an additional £645,000 of interest on top of the £63,837,543.60 EuroMillions jackpot.
The early Christmas present would purchase 339 houses at the average Stevenage price of £190,000 or more than two million bottles of champagne, as well as the inevitable deluge of letters from primary school friends and long-forgotten relatives.
There has been no shortage of potential winners. Umesh Sachania, who runs the Chocolate Box newsagents on Stevenage’s High Street, said dozens of customers had convinced themselves they were winners, only to return disappointed when they realised they had not picked the winning numbers 5, 11, 22, 34, 40 and “lucky star” numbers 9 and 11.
“Everyone vaguely remembers the numbers being something like that,” he said. “We had some customers who were really quite emotional about the fact it was possibly them and they couldn’t find their tickets. One person hired someone to help them look through the whole of his house because he didn’t want to leave any stone unturned.”
Camelot, which operates the EuroMillions draw in Britain, has encouraged the frenzy, refusing to disclose where the ticket was bought, apart from being “in the Stevenage and Hitchin area”. Its staff have paraded placards and fake cheques around the towns and even drove a Lamborghini plastered with publicity messages through the area.
On Stevenage High Street yesterday, most shoppers were sceptical that the ticketholder will come forward, suggesting the ticket has been put in the washing machine or its owner has died.
Camelot insists the prize could still be claimed. In 2009, one winner claimed £2.5 million just before the deadline. “Claims have been made on the last possible day,” a spokesman said.
Photo: WARREN ALLOTT
Courtesy: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
© 2012 Nwiro Ngozika . All rights reserved.
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