So apparently they have found the woman who won the other half of the record £66 Million UK lottery jackpot but she left them in a pair of jeans and it's been in the washing machine... EPIC FAIL. Only half the ticket is readable, the bit which shows the winning numbers. The Barcode which needs to be scanned (more important) is gone!
In previous cases they have never paid out if you don't have a ticket which is scannable. A while back one guy lost the ticket but they had him on CCTV buying the ticket and the time on the footage linked with the information recorded by the sale but they wouldn't pay out.
It's beggars belief people cannot keep a ticket safe for like 3 days! Especially if your entering a big draw.