A teenager couldn't believe her luck when her favourite numbers came up on a Euromillions draw - with a staggering £182 million jackpot. An overjoyed Rachel Kennedy and her boyfriend were already planning how to spend their sudden wealth, after she thought she'd bought a ticket for the draw on her online account.
Rachel, now 21, and her boyfriend at the time Liam McCrohan had picked their usual numbers - 6, 12, 22, 29, 33, 6 and 11 - for five weeks before they came up in the February 26, 2021 draw. However, the pair from Herefordshire were left distraught when Rachel called up to claim the prize.
Rather than banking their incredible nine-figure winnings, Rachel was told that her payment for the ticket had actually failed because of insufficient funds in her bank account. She told the Daily Star: "I called my boyfriend Liam and my mum into the room and they couldn’t believe it either so I was like, 'oh my God I need to call them'."
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Rachel continued: "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'. 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."
Liam admitted that while Rachel was "quite relaxed about it", he had already spent the money in his head. He said: "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."
Camelot, which has run the state-franchised lottery since 1994, sent the Hertfordshire couple a "good luck" message for future draws this week. A spokesman said: “We’re aware of Rachel’s story and hope she gets in early to buy a ticket for the next big draw", adding that the company wished her "the best of luck in future draws".
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