UK Lotto Wades Through a Sea of False Lottery Claims

The record £66 million UK Lotto jackpot was won by two ticket holders. The owners of the first ticket, Carol and David Martin from Scotland, came forward relatively soon after the draw.

The other £33 million has yet to come forward.

But that doesn’t mean that no one has come forward to claim the prize. Indeed, UK Lotto, the National Lottery, and Camelot (the UK lottery operator) have been dealing with hundreds of false lottery claims for nearly two weeks now.

Will the real winner please stand up?!

The Princess Anastasia of lottery searches

In the quest for lost riches akin to the search for Princess Anastasia following the Russian Revolution, a plethora of characters emerge, each with their own improbable and tangled tales. Among them is Susanne Hinte, a 48-year-old grandmother of four, who brought forth a curious narrative to the attention of the National Lottery.

She presented a severely damaged UK Lotto ticket at the lottery headquarters, alleging that it had inadvertently undergone a cycle in the washing machine, ensconced within a pair of jeans.

However, the lottery officials harbored immediate skepticism. While the winning numbers remained discernible, crucial details such as the barcode, draw date, ID number, and raffle number had been obliterated by the alleged washing. Camelot, the lottery organization, expressed doubts regarding Hinte’s account, noting that if they truly believed her, the logical course of action would have been to procure CCTV footage from the store where the ticket purportedly originated.

Yet, notably, no such footage was requested. This omission suggested that Camelot already harbored suspicions regarding the validity of Hinte’s claim, perhaps aware that the designated store was not the source of the winning ticket. Despite assertions from the store clerk that he remembered Hinte purchasing a ticket from the establishment, this did not conclusively prove that she had acquired the winning ticket there.

Subsequent revelations in the media shed further light on Hinte’s credibility. It emerged that she faced accusations of theft and was slated to stand trial on March 1 of the same year. Additionally, she had previously attempted to lay claim to £200 from a damaged scratchcard, though on that occasion, the excuse of a washing machine was replaced by a purported encounter with a stray puddle.

False lottery claims are not worth the legal risk

Besides being a terrible thing to do, making a false lottery claim is not worth the legal and financial risk to a person. Camelot has already said that their have been hundreds of false claims for the £33 million jackpot and that they will ‘take action’ to the fraudsters who waste their time.

Obviously, if a person legitimately wonders if they won, no charges would be pursued. Shula de Jersey, a criminal attorney in the UK, stated that an intentionally false claim would be classified as “fraud by false representation” and could carry hefty charges and fines. And why even bother making such claims?

The lottery organizations have numerous ways to find out where and when the second winning ticket was bought. Making a false lottery claim is a game you’re guaranteed to lose big time.

The best way to keep your ticket safe
ticket holder of the second winning ticket has indeed lost or damaged their ticket, it is likely that they will never know or receive their winnings.

The best way to avoid losing or damaging a lottery ticket is to get your UK Lotto tickets online through theLotter. When you purchase your tickets through our site, a representative from our local offices purchases the ticket on your behalf from an official retailer.

The representative then scans the lottery ticket and sends it to your customer account so you have proof of ownership.

Then the ticket is placed in a secure safe until the draw is completed. theLotter will let you know if you win any secondary or jackpot prizes, so you’ll never be left out of the lottery loop!

Don’t be a lottery ticket victim, play it smart with theLotter!–