Life-changing $4.8m lottery prize left unclaimed years later

In 2023, 500 division one lotto winners picked up a collective $1.5 billion in prize money.

If a lottery winner doesn’t have their details attached to winning numbers and never comes forward to claim their reward, a few things happen to the money, depending on the state or territory.

Unclaimed prize money is usually diverted to the state’s revenue office after a period of time.

It depends on the state for how long a winner has to claim their winnings before it officially expires.

In NSW and the ACT, winners must collect their earnings within six years after the draw date.

Queensland winners, meanwhile, have a little longer at seven years and two months.

Lottery winners in Western Australia only have 12 months to claim their prize before the money is returned to the community through grants.

Those in Victoria have 12 months to claim directly from The Lott, but after that they must submit it through the state revenue office.

The same goes for those in South Australia who missed the 12-month deadline to collect their windfall.

Winners collecting their jackpot from the government will have to pay administrative costs.

Winners in Tasmania have 12 months to claim through The Lott and another seven years to officially submit a form from the treasury office.

And for winners in the Northern Territory, prizes expire after three years.

Plenty of Australians have millions of dollars in lottery winnings just waiting to be claimed.

“We’re in the business of paying prizes and we never lose hope of uniting unclaimed prizes with their rightful owners,” a spokesperson for The Lott told 9news.com.au.

“We have had winners come forward weeks, months and even years after their win to claim their prize.

“By encouraging people to register their tickets, we can ensure our winners get their prizes sooner rather than later.”

In 2023, The Lott said there were 21 unclaimed division one and major lottery prize earnings worth $16.14 million.

“So far in 2024, there have been more than 470 division one and first prize wins across Australia but only four of these remain unclaimed,” the spokesperson added.

The oldest unclaimed division one prize is a ticket bought in December 2016 in Maroochydore, Queensland, which was worth $1 million.

The biggest unclaimed prize, meanwhile, is a $4.8 million winning ticket bought in April 2021 in Woden in ACT.

This mystery winner only has a little under three years to claim their life-changing winnings.

“While we deliver life-changing news to all our registered winners weekly, unfortunately, these winning tickets were not registered to a player card or an online account,” The Lott said of these unclaimed prizes.

“This means we have no way of identifying or contacting the mystery winners to unite them with their prize.”

The Lott said in the 2022-23 financial year, it took winners an average of 10 days to come forward and collect their prize.

“Whether you’re digging through old receipts in preparation for tax time or deep cleaning the house, keep an eye out for any unchecked lottery tickets,” The Lott said.

Most recently, a mystery lotto winner in South Australia forfeited their $1 million earnings after failing to claim their jackpot within 12 months.

It wasn’t all bad news, however, as the original winner can still take home their earnings minus administrative costs if they come forward with the winning ticket and fill out a prize claim form.