Everyone who buys a lottery scratch card dreams of winning big; But one big change means that, if you’re lucky, you’ll have to follow a new process to get your cash.
The change to the way some of the prize money is paid out comes after Allwyn took over as operator of the National Lottery from Camelot.
Last month the new operator announced that around 900 post offices across the UK would no longer sell raffle tickets and scratchcards as part of a new 10-year licence. It has now also been revealed that scratch card players who won between £500.01 and £50,000 will no longer be able to collect payment of their prize vouchers from the Post Office.
Instead they will have to follow a new process. However, some winners reportedly waited up to a month to receive their prize money.
A spokesman for Allwyn said the Post Office had launched a new claims process following the National Lottery’s decision to no longer pay out retail jackpots of between £500.01 and £50,000, which had led to a number of players contacting them.
“We apologize for the delays and have increased the number of colleagues who will assist players with their requests, helping them receive their rewards faster,” he said. “We would like to reassure all affected players that they will receive their rewards and remind them that rewards up to £500 can still be paid out in store.”
Why did the system change?
Allwyn’s takeover of the license from Camelot on February 1 meant several changes, including how the Post Office would work with the lottery, after Post Office Limited decided to end its group contract with the National Lottery last year.
Post Office branch managers were given the option of whether or not to sell individual products.
Last month, Allwyn said nearly 900 post offices across the UK – of the network of 4,800 post offices that previously sold National Lottery products – had not signed up to continue – almost a fifth (19%) had not signed up to continue – and that they would no longer sell raffle tickets and scratchcards. Under the new 10-year license.
Lottery retailers will not be able to sell tickets for the drawing without also selling scratch cards, per the retail sales agreement with Allwyn.
Post Office Limited charged a processing fee, understood to be around 1%, on every National Lottery transaction. The center said the decision to end the contract was made in response to requests from postmasters because it allowed them to receive full sales commissions like other lottery retailers.
Allwyn said more than 600 postmasters chose not to sign up for reasons such as religious beliefs or low lottery sales. He claimed that up to 200 sub-postmasters were unable to register as lottery retailers because of district court orders, but that they could be affiliated with the store or owner of the store where the post office was located.
But the National Federation of Postmasters (NFSP) said many post offices have chosen to stop selling lottery items because of the cost of purchasing scratch cards.
Post Office Limited previously covered the cost of purchasing scratch cards for each postmaster, but individual retailers are required to purchase the shares themselves under their contracts. This meant that if they did not sell enough scratch cards they could risk losing thousands of pounds in unsold stock.
NFSP chief executive Calum Greenhow said retailers needed to sell around £400 worth of scratchcards a week to get value for their time. Greenhow, who runs a Post Office in Scotland with his wife, said: “We would have been faced with a situation where we would have lost a significant amount of money. Otherwise we would still be selling (lottery tickets).” For scratch cards.”
Allwyn said 98.5% of a total of 23,000 independent retailers had signed up to sell raffle products under the fourth licence.
There were approximately 40,000 retail partners in total; The rest consisted of large supermarkets and retail chains, which he said had all signed up.
Now how to claim your scratch prize?
Previously, if you won with a scratch card, you could claim prize vouchers from your local post office branch.
But now, if your scratch card winnings are between £500.01 and £50,000, you will need to fill in an online claim form with your own details and ticket details, as well as images of the scratch card, to initiate the payment process.
Winners who are not UK residents will need to phone Allwyn to arrange an in-person meeting to claim the money, while those unable to use the online form will need to complete and submit a paper form.
Once the winning numbers are verified, winners must submit their ticket by mail for review.
How long do you have to claim your scratch prize?
Scratch Card prizes must be claimed within 180 days of the game’s closing date.
According to the rules for claiming a prize on the National Lottery website, if the prize is not claimed within 180 days, you will lose the prize. It says: “If a Reward is not claimed within the Claim Period, your entitlement to the Reward will be forfeited (and the Reward will not be paid).