Winner of €30 million New Year's lottery has yet to claim prize

The winner of the Oudejaarstrekking, an annual New Year's Eve lottery draw run by the Staatsloterij, has still not claimed their 30 million euro prize. A spokesperson for the lottery has said that they are not actively searching for the winner, but they will if it takes much longer.

It is not unique that prizes are claimed late or not at all, but it has never happened before that a 30 million euro prize has taken this long to collect. "It may be that the winner is on holiday or that the ticket is still in a box from, for example, a Christmas gift," the spokesperson said. He emphasizes: "We want to give people time; perhaps it is a conscious choice that this person waits until everything has calmed down."

The lottery will start a search if it takes too long. For example, the winner of a million euros was found last year with the aid of a small plane. That winner came forward because he had seen the device with the lottery call. For example, winners of the 2022 New Year's Eve draw who did not report were also actively searched for. In vain in some cases. Three electric MINI cars were not collected at that time. And the person who won the sum of half a MINI (because they bought half a lottery ticket) did not come either.

The spokesperson has stated that prize money that is not collected "is added to the money that the Netherlands lottery pays to the charities of NOC*NSF (Netherlands sport) and the Dutch state."

The winning main prize ticket was sold in the Brabant municipality of Woensdrecht. The owner does not have to hail from there; anyone can buy a ticket in a random store. To be able to pay out prizes above a certain amount (10,100 euros), winners must come to the Dutch Lottery office with the relevant ticket.

More than 7.2 million New Year's Eve tickets were sold this year. According to the Staatsloterij, this makes it the most successful New Year's Eve draw. Last year, the winning ticket was bought by a resident of Amersfoort.