Northern Ireland £1million lottery ticket now worthless

The EuroMillions ticket was purchased for the April 5 draw but the owner failed to come forward despite appeals from the National Lottery for players to check “down the back of the sofa”.

A number of good causes across the UK will share in the unexpected windfall – which includes all of the interest the prize accrued over the last six months.

Andy Carter of the National Lottery said: “Unfortunately, I can confirm that the ticket-holder did not come forward within the deadline to claim their prize and has now sadly missed out on this substantial amount of money. To avoid this unfortunate situation happening again, I would urge all National Lottery players to check their tickets on a regular basis.”

He added: “We tried very hard to find the ticket-holder and it’s a real shame that they have missed out, but there is still one winner – the nation. This money, and all the interest earned over the 180 days, will now go to benefit projects all over the UK”.

Every week EuroMillions UK Millionaire Maker guarantees to create four UK millionaires – two on Tuesday and two on Friday.

To jog the memory of lucky ticket holder earlier this year, the National Lottery said: “We have the champagne on ice and our fingers crossed that the lucky winner comes forward to claim their win.”