A COUPLE who thought they won a £182million EuroMillions jackpot were devastated after they lost it all because of a technicality.
Rachel Kennedy, 19, and Liam McCrohan, 21, from Hertfordshire, had played the winning numbers for five weeks in a row before they eventually came up in a draw.
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The National Lottery app notified Rachel that her usual numbers were a “Winning Match”, making her think she had hit the jackpot.
Rachel, a business student, told The Sun in 2021: “I went on the app and it said ‘Winning Match’ and I thought ‘Oh my God, I’ve won.’
“So I called my boyfriend Liam and my mum into the room and they couldn’t believe it either.”
But the couple were heartbroken when they realised that Rachel’s ticket payment had not gone through because she did not have enough money in her account.
Rachel 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.
“I was on top of the world when I thought I had won but when I found out I hadn’t, Liam was actually more upset than I was.”
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Economics student Liam had already been doing the sums for how they would spend the money.
He said: “She was quite relaxed about it but I had kind of spent it in my head already.
“I was absolutely heartbroken when we heard the man on the phone say we hadn’t actually bought the ticket.
“I was already picturing our dream house and the dream car, I think I was getting a bit carried away to be fair.
“On the app it really made it look like we had won because it comes up in orange and it says winning match.
“When you looked at it and it was her usual numbers it just really looked like she had won and I got a bit carried away.”
Rachel believed the numbers she had been using for weeks are unlucky and changed them for the next draw back in 2021.
She said: “We’ve played these exact numbers for about five weeks in a row now.
“I actually have two sets of numbers that I use. One of them is birthdays of family members and stuff, but the ones that were the winner were just random numbers that I had clicked one day and had been using ever since.
“We’re absolutely not going to keep using those numbers now, I’ve already changed them.
“I’ve never won anything before, we’ve just got the worst luck when it comes to stuff like this.”
Liam posted about their unlucky lotto incident on Twitter which grabbed the attention of social media users.
He said: “Initially I just posted it so my friends could see. I’ve only got like 120 followers but then it just blew up and I think it’s got over 31,000 likes now.”
Rachel added: “I was too embarrassed to post anything about it.”
If you’re keen to gamble, remember there’s no way to guarantee a winning ticket.
Only spend what you are comfortable with losing and if you’re worried about gambling you can get help and advice from the NHS, GamCare and BeGambleAware.
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