WORCESTER has a £33 million National Lottery jackpot winner... but the prize has yet to be claimed.

National Lottery players are being urged to check, double-check and triple-check their tickets for the chance to claim the record-breaking prize in time.

The search is now on to find the owner of the winning ticket, who matched all six main numbers to win one half of the £66million Lotto jackpot in the draw on Saturday, January 9, 2016.

The winning Lotto numbers on that date were 26, 27, 46, 47, 52, 58 and the lucky ticket-holder has until Thursday, July 7, 2016 to make their claim.

The Lotto draw on January 9 saw the biggest ever Lotto jackpot of more than£66million on offer, and two lucky ticket-holders matched all six numbers to share the prize.

David and Carol Martin, from Hawick in the Scottish Borders, are already enjoying their half of the record-breaking Lotto jackpot.

As with all major prizes (£50,000 and over) about two weeks after the draw, if no valid claim has been received, the area in which the ticket was purchased is released.

This area is provided by Camelot’s security team in line with its licence obligations and is designed to encourage tickets to be checked but also to enable the ticket-holder to remain anonymous if they wish.

A National Lottery spokesperson said, “Our player services team are on standby waiting for the ticket-holder to come forward and claim their prize.

"They have great expertise in helping winners embrace life-changing wins and making sure that they are able to start to enjoy their new found wealth as quickly as possible.

"They will be on hand every step of the way to guide the ticket-holder through the winning experience.

“We’re desperate to find this mystery ticket-holder and unite them with their winnings and we’re urging everyone to try checking in the pockets of clothing, in wallets, bags, down the back of the sofa and anywhere a missing ticket could be hiding – someone out there could literally be sitting on a fortune!

"We have the champagne on ice and our fingers crossed that the lucky winner comes forward to claim their win.”

Under its licence Camelot has the discretion to pay prizes in respect of stolen, lost or destroyed National Lottery tickets only if the player has submitted a claim in writing within 30 days of the relevant draw.

If the player can provide sufficient evidence, Camelot will investigate and consider the validity of the claim. Camelot will then determine at its discretion whether the claim is valid and is able to pay the prize 180 days after the draw.

With all National Lottery draws, players have 180 days from the day of the draw to claim their prize if they have the winning ticket.

Anyone who has any queries or who believes they have the winning ticket for any of the National Lottery draws within the 180-day deadline should call the National Lottery Line on 0844 338 7551 or email help@national-lottery.co.uk If no one comes forward with the winning ticket before the prize claim deadline, then the prize money, plus all the interest it has generated, will go to help National Lottery-funded projects across the UK.

The National Lottery changes the lives of individuals as well as communities – players raise, on average, over £34 million for National Lottery-funded projects every week.

Anyone concerned about lost or unchecked tickets may like to consider either setting up a National Lottery Direct Debit or playing online at www.national-lottery.co.uk.

Players can contact Camelot by telephoning the National Lottery Line during its normal operating hours. Alternatively, players can email Camelot to confirm they intend to claim their prize but this email must be received at help@national-lottery.co.uk no later than the end (before midnight) of the 180-day claim period, and the claim must subsequently be made in person. Please see Game Rules and Procedures for full details of how to claim.

• Each week, Camelot generates more than £34 million for National Lottery-funded projects – in total £34 billion has now been raised and more than 450,000 individual grants have been made across the UK, the biggest programme of civic and social regeneration since the 19th century.

The National Lottery has so far given away over £57 billion in prizes and created more than 4,000 millionaires or multi-millionaires since its launch in 1994.