KOTTAYAM: Lottery winners are considered to be luckiest people around. But what’s the point in winning the lottery and not knowing it at all. The six crores rupees Christmas-New Year lottery winner has not been found yet. Due to these ‘unlucky’ lucky winners, the lottery department benefits a lot. In the past eight years, the lottery department got Rs 663 crores due to the non-appearance of winners.

In 2016 and 2017 alone, lottery wins worth Rs. 240 crores were not claimed. Lottery winners might be unaware of their win, tickets might have been lost or tickets could have tampered. It’s mandatory to present the lottery ticket within 30 days of win. If the win is not claimed within this period, the money will go to the state treasury. An additional two months will be allowed if there is a proper reason. After this three month period, the winning ticket number will be specially noted. If the barcode and ticket number are visible, the win can be claimed. Prizes up to rupees one lakh can be received from the lottery office. For amounts above that, the ticket should be presented at the directorate.

Lottery winning amount that went to the treasury over the past eight years

2010: 15.26

2011: 23.36

2012: 48.88

2013: 70.34

2014: 82.21

2015: 91.60

2016: 105.57

2017: 135.85

2018: 90.85