Lottery ticket worth W2b sits unclaimed a year later at Namyangju shop

A first-prize Lotto ticket worth 2 billion won ($1.5 million) has gone unclaimed for a year, and the winner has until Monday to collect before the prize is forfeited to the national lottery fund.

According to Donhaeng Bokgwon, the lottery operator, the first-prize winning ticket from the 1,196th Lotto drawing held Nov. 1 last year — worth exactly 2,000,162,755 won — has yet to be redeemed.

The winning numbers for that drawing were 8, 12, 15, 29, 40 and 45, with bonus number 14.

The ticket was sold at Dallyeora Bokgwonbang, a lottery retailer on Namga-ro in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, and was an auto-generated pick.

Under lottery rules, winners must claim their prize within one year of the payment start date.

Two second-prize tickets from the same drawing are also waiting to be claimed. One was sold in Seoul and another in South Chungcheong Province, each worth 53,234,776 won.

Donhaeng Bokgwon urged ticket holders to check whether any purchased tickets have gone unverified. "Please check again whether you have any tickets whose results you haven't confirmed, and make sure to claim your winnings before the deadline," the operator said.

Donhaeng Bokgwon also said buyers who use its digital registration service, "Lottery Wallet," can avoid missing out on prizes. The service sends winning notifications and automatically deposits any unclaimed winnings — on the deadline date — as PAYCO points or directly into a bank account registered in the holder's name.