SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Lottery operators in Bulgaria say the winner of a record €3.4 million ($4.5 million) rollover prize has not come forward to claim the money.
They say there will be no pay out after a 45-day deadline to claim the cash prize expired Tuesday.
Lottery chief Ivo Tonev says half the money will instead be returned to the lottery’s cash reserves while the other half will be used in grants for various Bulgarian sporting federations.
The rollover prize was Bulgaria’s highest ever, with the lure of sudden wealth spurring lottery fever in European Union’s poorest country — even attracting people from neighboring Greece, Turkey, Serbia, Romania and Macedonia to try and guess the winning six numbers.
