An amazing Lotto prize worth £8,168,679 has yet to be claimed from a ticket bought in Colchester.

National Lottery players are being urged to check and double-check their tickets for the chance to claim this massive life-changing prize.

The search is now on to find the owner of the winning ticket, bought in Colchester, who matched five numbers and the bonus ball in the in the Lotto draw on Wednesday 14 September, 2016.

The winning Lotto numbers on that date were 16, 23, 35, 42, 44, 58 and the bonus ball was 28.

The lucky ticket-holder has until Monday 13 March, 2017 to claim their prize1.

As soon as the Lotto jackpot reaches or exceeds £22m the jackpot has to be won in the next draw.

As no one matched all six numbers in the draw on Wednesday 14 September, the prize money was shared between the winners in the next winning prize level (five plus bonus ball) – with three winners sharing a total of £24,506,037 (£8,168,679 each).

If no-one comes forward with the winning ticket before the prize claim deadline, then the prize money, plus all the interest it has generated, will go to help National Lottery-funded projects across the UK.

The National Lottery changes the lives of individuals as well as communities – players raise, on average, over £36 million for National Lottery-funded projects every week.

Andy Carter, Senior Winners’ Advisor at The National Lottery said: “We’re eager to find the mystery ticket-holder and unite them with their winnings – this amazing Lotto prize could really make a huge difference to somebody’s life.

"We’re urging everyone who bought a Lotto ticket in Colchester, whether they are from the town or were just in the area at the time, to check their old tickets again or look anywhere a missing ticket could be hiding.

“Try checking in the pockets of clothing, in wallets, bags and down the back of the sofa – someone out there could literally be sitting on a fortune! We have the champagne on ice and our fingers crossed that the lucky winner comes forward to claim their win.”

To help jog Lotto players’ memories about what was happening around the time of the draw in question, Wednesday 14 September saw ParalympicsGB surpass their Gold medal tally from London, with notable Golds won that day coming courtesy of Dame Sarah Storey in the C5 cycling time trail and Hannah Cockroft who won Gold in a world record time in the T34 400m.

Closer to home, football fans will remember that local football club, Colchester United, were in action in League Two on the preceding and proceeding weekends to the Lotto draw.

On Saturday 10 September the U’s beat Blackpool 3-2 at home, while on the following Saturday (17 September) the team earned a hard-fought point with a 1-1 draw away at Barnet.

With all National Lottery draws, players have 180 days from the day of the draw to claim their prize if they have the winning ticket.

Anyone who has any queries or who believes they have the winning ticket for any of the National Lottery draws within the 180-day deadline should call the National Lottery Line on 0844 338 7551 or email help@national-lottery.co.uk. 

Anyone concerned about lost or unchecked tickets may like to consider either setting up a National Lottery Direct Debit or playing online at www.national-lottery.co.uk. Numbers can be entered in advance and lucky winners are notified online if their numbers come up.

For further information call 0845 912 5000 or visit www.national-lottery.co.uk.