A SMALL Lottery fortune has been given to good causes after the deadline for its collection passed.

The £1m EuroMillions Millionaire Raffle prize from Friday, April 20 had to be collected by Wednesday (October 17).

The money, plus the interest it earned, has been given to The National Lottery Good Causes.

The ticket was bought in the Sunderland area.

A National Lottery spokesperson said: “Unfortunately, I can confirm that the ticket-holder did not come forward within the deadline to claim their prize and has now sadly missed out on this substantial amount of money.

"To avoid this unfortunate situation happening again, I would urge all National Lottery players to check their tickets on a regular basis.

“We tried very hard to find the ticket-holder and it’s a real shame that they have missed out.

“This money, and all the interest earned over the 180 days, will now go to The National Lottery Good Causes – adding to the £28bn already raised and distributed to over 380,000 individual awards that have benefitted people, communities and projects across the UK.”