China just had its largest unclaimed lottery prize in history

A customer looks at screens showing lottery information at a lottery ticket store in Shanghai, December 29, 2013. Spurred by rising disposable income, a strong appetite for gambling and more sophisticated games, China's lottery market has boomed with customers splurging some $23 billion in 2012, compared to $37 billion by punters in the world's biggest lottery market in the United States. With 20 percent growth rates projected for the next three years, China is expected to overtake the United States and leap into the top spot by 2015. Picture taken December 29, 2013.

The biggest unclaimed lottery win in China’s history has been recorded in southern Guangdong province, according to a newspaper report.

A winning ticket worth 25.6. million yuan (HK$30.3 million) was bought in Dongguan on November 10 last year, theSouthern Metropolis Newsreported. That’s equivalent to US$3.9 million.

Nobody, however, had claimed the prize by the time the final deadline passed to do so at midnight on Sunday, the newspaper said.

The city’s branch of the China Welfare Lottery remained open up to the final minutes to allow the winner to come forward and claim the prize with their ticket.

Lottery buyers are reminded by staff to keep their tickets safe as they are the only way to collect a cash prize.

Previous unclaimed lottery wins in China include a 12.6. million yuan prize in Inner Mongolia in 2014, plus a 16.2 million yuan jackpot in Jiangsu province in 2011, the report said.

Cash prizes unclaimed by the time the deadline expires are put in the lottery fund and used for social welfare projects.

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