A couple from Brighton say they missed out on a £182 million EuroMillions jackpot because their ticket payment did not process. Rachel Kennedy and Liam McCrohan were left “absolutely heartbroken” after discovering their regular numbers had been drawn, but they had insufficient funds in their lottery account when the payment was attempted.
Rachel, a business student at Brighton University, had set up her account to automatically purchase a ticket for each draw. After checking her account following Friday’s draw, she saw a message stating her numbers were a “winning match”, but her heart sank when she realised the glitch. She said: “I called the number thinking that I had won £182million and they said ‘yeah you've got the right numbers but you didn't have the funds in your account for the payment of the ticket so it didn't actually go through’.”
The couple had played the same numbers—6, 12, 22, 29, 33, 6 and 11—for five consecutive weeks before all seven digits appeared. Rachel said Liam was “more upset than me” and that she now considers the numbers “unlucky” and has decided to change them.
In a separate incident, a British teenager narrowly missed out on a £178 million EuroMillions jackpot, with each of her numbers being just one off. Tayla Octave, from south east London, checked her lucky dip ticket and found her numbers were either one too big or one too small for the winning sequence. She told the Sun: “I'm just gutted. It's a long shot to win the lottery anyway but to be so close is heartbreaking.”
A Camelot spokesperson said: “We're aware of Rachel's story and hope she gets in early to buy a ticket for the next big draw. We have a £20m Must Be Won Lotto jackpot up for grabs on Saturday, so wish her the best of luck in that or any future draws.”
