The National Lottery has refused to pay out a multi-million Euro jackpot to someone claiming to be the winner.

The €8.2m ticket was bought in Sligo Town in March.

But a cheque has yet to be written by Lotto H.Q. which is trying to work out whether the ticket is valid.

Under lottery rules the operators have the right to withhold payment until they are entirely satisfied – the conditions also state that tickets must not be tampered with in any manner.

According to today’s Irish Daily Mail, all winnings must be claimed within a 90 day time limit – that means there is just 23 days left for the winner to claim their prize.

In a statement released by the National Lottery it states: “The National Lottery never comments on the specifics of the claims procedure to protect both the privacy of the claimant and the security of the National Lottery’s claims process.

As is standard practice, any claimant has 90 days in which to claim their prize and we are continuing to engage with the ticketholder.

In line with our normal policy, we will not be issuing further comment until the prize has been collected.”