Mirror
Lotto hopefuls will be eagerly checking their tickets tonight, with the biggest jackpot in history up for grabs.
The total prize money has rocketed to an astonishing £184million after nobody picked the winning numbers for Friday’s £174million EuroMillions.
But for every delighted winner, there’s a million others who miss out – and some truly have the worst luck.
Just this year, one unlucky couple claimed to have missed out on no less than £182million after their card payment didn’t go through.
Previously, unknowing winners have even binned their tickets, while one woman unwisely blew thousands after mistakenly thinking she’d scooped the jackpot.
Couple miss £182m jackpot as card declined
Rachel Kennedy, 19, and Liam McCrohan, 21, were left “absolutely heartbroken” in March after claiming they’d missed out on a £182million EuroMillions jackpot.
The couple, from Hertfordshire, realised their usual numbers of 6, 12, 22, 29, 33, 6 and 11 had come up but there was one major catch – their ticket payment hadn’t gone through.
They had played the same numbers for five weeks in a row, before all seven digits appeared in the draw.
Rachel explained how she had set up her account to automatically buy a EuroMillions ticket for each draw – but when payment for the winning ticket was attempted, the lottery account did not have enough funds.
Checking her account after the draw, she was greeted with a message saying her numbers were a “winning match” – however, her heart sank when she realised the glitch, The Sun reported.
Rachel, a business student at Brighton University, 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’.
“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 me.”
Rachel said they were “absolutely heartbroken” – and now thinks of her usual weekly numbers as “unlucky” and has decided to change them.
Camelot, which has operated the UK’s state-franchised national lottery since its establishment in 1994, has wished Rachel “the best of luck in future draws”.
A company spokesman added: “We’re aware of Rachel’s story and hope she gets in early to buy a ticket for the next big draw.”
Marriage breaks down after losing £3m ticket
It took Martyn and Kay Tott six months to realise they had won over £3million on the National Lottery back in 2001.
The massive realisation finally dawned on the Totts, from Watford, after they spotted an appeal for the winner to come forward.
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