THE staggering £181.5million prize could finally be claimed by one lucky punter this Friday.
But will their prize money be capped, and what happens if no one claims it? Here’s the roundup.
What happens to the EuroMillions money if no one claims it?
If no UK players come forward within 180 days then the prize money, plus all the interest it has generated while it is held in trust, goes to National Lottery-funded projects across the UK.
The National Lottery have said: “Our players change the lives of individuals as well as communities by raising, on average, over £33 million for National Lottery-funded projects every week.”
Is the prize money capped?
The maximum jackpot prize is capped at €200 million – before conversion – and can alter depending on which country the winner lives in and the value of their currency.
In the UK, the winner’s prize would be capped around £181.5million.
Under the EuroMillions rules, the current jackpot can only stay capped at €200 million until 18th December. The list below shows what will happen in each upcoming draw if there are no jackpot winners:
- 1st Capped Draw: Friday 4th December – The maximum jackpot of 200 million Euros is reached for the first time in history.
- 2nd Capped Draw: Tuesday 8th December – The €200 million (est. £175 million) jackpot is put back into play. If there are no top prize winners, it remains at this level for the next draw.
- 3rd Capped Draw: Friday 11th December – The €200 million jackpot is put back into play. If there are still no top prize winners, it will remain at this level for the next draw.
- 4th Capped Draw: Tuesday 15th December – The €200 million jackpot is put back into play. If there are still no top prize winners, it will remain at this level for the next draw.
- 5th Capped Draw: Friday 18th December – This is the final time that the €200 million jackpot could be offered and is therefore a ‘Must Be Won’ draw.
- If there are no ‘Match 5 + 2 Lucky Stars’ winners in this draw, the entire €200,000,000 prize fund will roll down and be shared between players in the next winning tier (most likely Match 5 + 1 Lucky Star).
How long do winners have to claim their prize money?
Winners from different countries have different deadlines to claim their prize.
In Austria, winners have a whole 3 years to claim the prize before it is returned to the lottery and used to fund boosted prizes.
Belgian winners, on the other hand, only have around 140 days before the money is returned to the Belgian National Lottery.
The least amount of time to snap up the jackpot goes to France and Luxembourg.
French winners only have 60 days to claim the money or it will be used to fund special promotions. This is suppose to create “a number of millionaires over the course of a week”.
Players from Luxembourg also have just 60 days to claim the win before it’s returned to the lottery’s reserve fund.
Winners from Ireland, Portugal and Spain all have around 90 days to tell the world they’ve won.
Meanwhile, Switzerland and the UK winners have 180 days to claim the prize before it is distributed elsewhere.
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