18 Sep 2013

$4.7m euro lottery ticket unclaimed in Spain

7:12 pm on 18 September 2013

A search is under way for the winner of an unclaimed multi-million-euro lottery in La Coruna, Spain.

City officials have advertised for the person who bought it to come forward, more than a year after they hit the 4.7m-euro ($US6.3m) jackpot.

The BBC reports the ticket, bought ahead of the 30 June 2012 draw, was found in a lottery shop.

"I'll be the first Spanish mayor who's searching for a millionaire not to ask for money but to give it," said La Coruna's Mayor Carlos Negreira.

The authorities are not revealing exactly when or where in the north-western Spanish city it was bought, so they can test the claims of people coming forward.

The purchaser might know the numbers chosen, but might also have requested numbers to be selected randomly by the lottery machine.

The ticket has now been advertised on the lost-and-found section of the city website - usually dominated by notices about mobile phones, keys and wallets.

"If no-one comes forward who meets the conditions in the next two years, the ticket will be handed to the person who found it," Mayor Negreira said in a statement.

La Coruna is required by law to try to find the holder of the winning ticket.