Winner still to collect $18 mn jackpot prize

SYDNEY - The winner of a $20 million lottery jackpot is yet to collect the prize, two days after the winning ticket was bought in Sydney, a media report said Thursday.

The NSW Lotteries said the winner of the Oz Lotto jackpot, 20 million Australian dollar (about $18 million), who bought the ticket in Sydney Tuesday, had not yet come forward to claim the prize, Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Una O’Neill, a spokeswoman for NSW Lotteries, said the location of the ticket outlet would not be released so the winner could check their entry “without the glare of publicity”.

In April, a middle-aged Ashfield couple claimed their $30 million prize after appeals in the media.

Last July, NSW Lotteries successfully found the winner of the record $40 million Powerball prize. The ticket was bought in Penrith in Sydney’s west.

O’Neill said she hoped similar appeals this time around would lead the winner to check their ticket.

Lottery players have up to December 1, 2016, to claim their winnings, she said. The prize would be tax free.

NSW Lotteries has paid out more than $13 billion since the first draw in 1831.