Charities have benefited from £1.1bn in unclaimed prizes since the National Lottery was started 17 years ago.

If after 180 days a prize has not been claimed the whole amount is paid to the National Lottery Distribution Fund to go towards arts, sports, heritage, voluntary, health, education and environment projects in the UK.

The biggest amount that was not claimed was £9.4m from a ticket bought in Doncaster in 2005.

The money all goes straight to the distribution fund for good causes because of rules set out by Parliament when the National Lottery was established in 1994.

A National Lottery commission spokesperson said: "It is the role of the National Lottery Commission to ensure that Lottery players are protected, and to maximise the amount raised for good causes. We make sure that Camelot take every effort to publicise unclaimed prizes, and encourage winners to come forward.”