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Saturday, Feb 21, 2026

Couple miss out on £182m Euromillions win as ticket payment didn't go through

Couple miss out on £182m Euromillions win as ticket payment didn't go through

A COUPLE missed out on a £182million Euromillions jackpot after their regular numbers came up - but their ticket payment didn’t go through.

Rachel Kennedy, 19, and Liam McCrohan, 21, from Hertfordshire were “absolutely heartbroken” when they realised their usual numbers had come up, but they had won nothing.

Rachel Kennedy, 19, and Liam McCrohan, 21, from Hertfordshire missed out on a £182million Euromillions jackpotCredit: Instagram/Rachel Kennedy

The payment for Rachel's ticket didn't go through

The pair of students had been playing the winning numbers for five weeks in a row

The couple, both students, had played the winning numbers of 6, 12, 22, 29, 33, 6 and 11 for five weeks in a row before all seven digits appeared in Friday's draw.

Rachel's account was set up to automatically buy a Euromillions ticket with her usual numbers but because her account did not have the right funds, the ticket payment did not go through.

But when she checked the app, she had a notification saying her usual numbers were a 'Winning Match' - making her think she had hit the jackpot.

The business student at Brighton University told The Sun: “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 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 I was."

Liam, who studies economics, 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.

The couple were “absolutely heartbroken” when they realised their usual numbers had come up, but they had won nothing.

Rachel has now changed her numbers for future draws

“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 now believes the numbers she had been using for weeks are unlucky and has changed her numbers for the next draw.

Liam posted about their unlucky lotto incident on Twitter

Rachel had been playing the winning numbers for five weeks

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.”

Friday's Euromillions jackpot has since been claimed by a winner in Switzerland.

It comes as Britain's unluckiest woman also lost out on the £178mil Euromillions jackpot – because each of her numbers was just one digit away from the winning seven balls.

Tayla Octave, 19, could not believe it when she checked her lucky dip row against Friday’s mega draw and saw she had been so close to scooping the top prize – which you only have a one in 139,838,160 chance of winning.


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