A mystery lottery player has lost out on a £64m fortune after the deadline to claim the prize expired and the money was handed to charity.



The unlucky individual, who bought the winning EuroMillions ticket in Hertfordshire on June 8th, had until 11pm yesterday to collect the massive windfall.

But despite a National Lottery publicity campaign, the would-be multi-millionaire missed the 180-day deadline - making the £63,837,543.60 prize the biggest unclaimed lottery win in history and the biggest ever windfall for the National Lottery Good Causes fund.

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The winner of the huge lottery windfall bought their ticket in the Stevenage or Hitchin area of Hertfordshire (pictured is central Hitchin)

A National Lottery spokeswoman 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 staggering amount of money.

GOOD CAUSES FUND:WHERE THE MONEY MIGHT BE SPENT



Kidz Unlimited - Charity Whizz Kidz runs the Kidz Unlimited project which provides young disabled people with local fun and friendship clubs and camps across England, spaces to learn new skills and build confidence, as well as access to tailored work placements.



Drumatik - Drumatik, a community drumming group in West Fife is making a life-changing difference to the lives of its members.



Surf Action CIC - Surf Action works with service personnel returning from active service from all conflicts, by providing special therapeutic surfing sessions to help them get back to community life.



Oasis Domestic Abuse Service - The Thanet-based service offers emergency safe and temporary accommodation to women suffering from domestic violence, and their children.



Brighter Future Workshop – This group enhances the lives of people with disabilities and others who are disadvantaged.



The Phoenix Group for Deaf Children (North Hertfordshire) This group helps deaf children and their families to communicate, enabling the child to fully integrate into their home life and social community.

'The vast majority of prizes are claimed within the 180 days but to avoid this unfortunate situation happening again, we would urge all National Lottery players to check their tickets on a regular basis.'

The distribution of the money will be the responsibility of 13 lottery distribution bodies across the country.

Health, Education, Environment, and charitable causes will receive the lion's share of the winnings, at 40 per cent.

Sports, The Arts and Heritage will each receive 20 per cent.

Michael Thompson, a spokesman for The National Lottery Good Causes, said: 'Countless good causes will benefit from this unclaimed prize.



'National Lottery players should be proud that they are helping so many good causes in their own area.”

'In theory, the £64 million unclaimed prize would fund over 6,000 minibuses to help kids with disabilities.

'The £64 million would also fund the improvement of approximately 7,800 play areas for children across the UK and build over 1,000 village halls/community centres across the UK'.

National Lottery officials launched a desperate search for the holder, raising awareness through adverts and posters - with even a town crier proclaiming the win from a Lamborghini.

All lottery players were urged to check their tickets and search some of the more unusual places where “lost” tickets have been found in the past, such as in bin bags, wedged down the back of sofas and stashed in car sun visors.

The lottery spokeswoman added: 'We tried very hard to find the ticket-holder, with lots of awareness-raising activity over the past 180 days, and it’s a real shame that they have missed out, but there is still one winner - the nation.

In 2001 Martyn Tott, a purchasing manager from Watford, missed out on a jackpot of £3,011,065 after losing his ticket. Using computer records, he was able to prove the winning ticket was his but Camelot refused to pay out — since the rules state that the winner must have their ticket to claim their fortune.



The decision sparked a national furore, with even the then Prime Minister Tony Blair championing Mr Tott’s cause — but all in vain.

WHO DOESN'T WANT TO BE A MILLIONAIRE? BIGGEST UNCLAIMED PRIZES



The prize money would have allowed the winner to buy 339 houses at the average Stevenage price of £190,000 or — should the urge take them — more than two million bottles of champagne.



It would also have made them a good deal richer than the commuter town’s most glamorous son, F1 driver Lewis Hamilton (who is worth a reported £55 million), and almost three times wealthier than local Harry Potter star Rupert Grint (worth a relatively paltry £24 million).

In 2004, £7 million went unclaimed in Belfast, and in September 2007 a £6.9 million win wasn’t claimed in Devon.



Winner: Past Stevenage lottery winners include Sharon Creighton pictured celebrating with her son James at Knebworth House in 2005

Loser: Martyn Tott, from Watford, missed out on a £3million jackpot when he didn't claim a lottery win in time

What £64million could have bought

Yesterday a drawing by Italian artist Raphael fetched a record £29 million at auction - a price that would leave the ticket holder with plenty of cash left in their pocket. A Boeing 737 plane

If their art tastes are more modern, Damien Hirst’s diamond-encrusted skull is worth £50 million.

60 Eurocopters A five-bedroom house in Belgravia, London, with a labyrinth of subterranean rooms, including a ballroom, swimming pool and gym - a snip at £16 million. 7,000 Rolex Daytona watches A Sunseeker yacht in the Mediterranean might cost £4.75 million 90,000 pairs of Christian Louboutin shoes Pay the wages bill for Manchester City’s first team for a season

500,000 bottles of 2002 Dom Perignon 200

Until now the largest unclaimed sum is £9.4 million, on a ticket that was bought in Doncaster in July 2005.

Camelot’s Simon Horne says: ‘We all want winners to get their money but there must be a deadline.



Otherwise every prize would just go on indefinitely. But this way billions of pounds have gone to good causes over the years — from funding the Olympics through bodies like Sport England to local playgroups and Scout clubs.’

Still, the psychological fallout of a near miss can be devastating.

After Mr Tott was denied his millions he plunged into depression, separated from his partner and moved to America, where he joined an evangelical cult. He has since returned and, claiming to have found happiness, written a book about his ordeal.



Residents in Stevenage can readily imagine the pain of losing a winning ticket. Marion Johnson, 56, a human resources manager, says: ‘Can you imagine? It would be awful. It’s money that could completely change your life. If that were me, I’d feel sick.’



Of course, the treasure hunt would not be needed if Camelot revealed the precise place where the winning ticket was sold.

Purchasing records mean that they can easily identify the shop — but the company’s licence forbids it from making that information public in order to maximise the winner’s chances of anonymity.