A couple who thought they had won the EuroMillions jackpot were told that they were unable to collect their mammoth winnings, after discovering that the ticket payment had bounced.
19-year-old at the time of the incident, Rachel Kennedy was convinced that she and her boyfriend Liam McCrohan had won a truly life-changing sum of £182million on the National Lottery game in February 2021 - after being alerted via text message.
The couple in-turn began planning a life which couldn't even be imagined in their wildest dreams.
The Express reports however, they were left devastated when Rachel was told she didn't have enough funds in her account to pay for the £2.50 ticket in question, meaning the ticket wasn't purchased prior to the lottery as usual. This meant that while they had the right numbers, they couldn't claim the victory.
However, this didn't stop the computer system telling her via text that she'd won.
Speaking to the Sun, she said: "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."
Heartbreak was to come when she called the number to collect her winnings. She added: "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."
Upon hearing his partner had won the lottery, Liam had already begun making plans. He said: "Rachel 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."
In response to hearing of their misfortune Camelot, who runs the lottery, wished the couple good luck for future draws. They said in a statement: "We're aware of Rachel's story and hope she gets in early to buy a ticket for the next big draw."
As to which numbers they choose next, Rachel says she is unlikely to choose the same set. She said: "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."
Rachel now believes the original numbers she used - 6, 12, 22, 29, 33, 6 and 11 - are now bad luck. Now 21 and 23 respectively, Rachel and Liam hope their numbers will come up once again when they play this year.
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