A Sunshine Coast lotto winner is running out of time to collect a million dollars.
The hunt has ramped up for a person who purchased a winning ticket at Cotton Tree News almost six years ago.
It’s the oldest unclaimed division one prize in the country.
In Queensland, Lotto winners have seven years to claim the cash.
Cotton Tree News sales assistant Shannon Figas remained hopeful the winner would come forward.
“We’re assuming it was a traveller,” she said.
“It could have been someone who has blown through on holidays.
“As time goes on, the chances of it getting claimed get a bit slimmer, but you never know.”
The Monday Gold Lotto ticket was purchased for Draw 3618, held on December 19, 2016,
The person was the sole winner of Division 1. The correct numbers were 4, 6, 10, 11, 33 and 38 with supplementary numbers 23 and 28.
News of the missing ‘golden ticket’ should have Lotto enthusiasts scrambling through their belongings to see if they are ‘the one’.
A Lott spokesperson said the ticket could be anywhere.
“From old shopping bags and fridge doors – to car gloveboxes and sock drawers, Australians have a history of storing winning lottery tickets in weird and wonderful places.”
“We always encourage all players to register their entries to a player card or online account as this allows us to contact them to unite them with their prize.”
Do you have an opinion about the missing winner? Will you search for any old tickets? Submit a Letter to the Editor with your name and suburb to Sunshine Coast News via: news@sunshinecoastnews.com.au
One member of 10-strong group still to claim
Mean time, the search continues for one member of a Sunshine Coast syndicate that won $1.42 million.
It’s been six weeks since a 10-strong group from Cotton Tree News captured the Division 1 prize in Saturday Gold Lotto, Draw 4287 on August 20.
Five members of the syndicate, called The Big One number 2, came forward to collect their share of the winnings (about $142,000 each) within days.
Three more of them emerged, but two of were still at large a fortnight later.
The penultimate member of the group has since come forward but the last member of the group is still ‘missing’ and may not even know about the big win.
A Lott spokesperson said they’re on the look-out for the person.
“We’re still on the hunt for one syndicate member to claim their prize.”
“The unclaimed entry was not registered to a player card or an online account, so we have no way of identifying or contacting the mystery winner to unite them with their division one prize.”
The winning numbers were 6, 34, 16, 37, 42 and 35, with supplementary numbers 18 and 40.
Ms Figas said it would be fantastic if they knew the person.
“We hope it’s a regular local, someone we perhaps know and have served,” she said.
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