London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Saturday, Aug 22, 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.


Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
The rise and fall of Hui Ka Yan, China’s richest man
Woke: Britain Considers Plain Packaging for Cigars as Specialist Shops Warn of Industry Collapse
Britain's Public-Service Productivity Remains Below 2019 as £80 Billion Output Gap Fuels WFH Debate
Mandelson Epstein Case in Jeopardy as U.S. Files Stay Out of Reach
Prince Harry and Six Others Ordered to Pay £9.5 Million After High Court Defeat
Petrol Bombs Set Luxury Cars Alight Outside Birmingham Wedding as Police Hunt Three Men
Bitcoin Surges Toward $80,000 as Short Squeeze and ETF Inflows Ignite Crypto Rally
Prince Harry and Co-Claimants Ordered to Pay £9.5 Million Toward Daily Mail Publisher’s Legal Costs
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Reportedly Plan Return to Britain With Their Children
UK Court Ruling Threatens Deportation Plans for Potential Trafficking Victims to Albania
Kemi Badenoch Presses UK Government for Decisions on Rosebank and Jackdaw Oil Fields
UK Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Calls for Ban on Goods from Occupied West Bank
Andy Burnham Government to Place Civil Servants Directly in English Mayoral Offices
Met Office Warns Major El Niño Could Bring Stormier, Wetter Autumn to UK
UK Economy Gains Unexpected Momentum Ahead of Andy Burnham Government’s First Budget
Twenty-Nine US States Take Meta to Trial Over Alleged Child Addiction on Instagram and Facebook
Former Scottish National Party Executive Peter Murrell Jailed for Five Years Over £400,000 Embezzlement
Moderna and Merck's Personalized Cancer Vaccine Succeeds in Historic Late-Stage Melanoma Trial
Prince Harry and Meghan to Move Back to Britain With Their Children
England and Wales Have Fewer Than 1,800 Prison Places Left for Men
Royal Navy to Accelerate DragonFire Laser Deployment Against Growing Drone Threat
Northern Ireland Approves Five Hundred Million Pound Belfast Harbour Expansion
Great British Railways Takes Full Control of Avanti West Coast as Rail Nationalisation Reaches Final Stage
UK AI Safety Institute Calls for Mandatory Security Audits of Advanced AI Models
Scotland Secures Three Billion Pounds for Floating Offshore Wind Hub in Aberdeen
Government Overrides Local Councils to Approve Green Belt Housing Across Southern England
UK and EU Move Toward Mutual Recognition of Food Standards to Ease Cross-Channel Trade
Government Plans Multibillion-Pound Private Healthcare Expansion to Cut NHS Surgical Backlogs
Bank of England Signals Faster Rate Cuts as Inflation Falls Below the Two Percent Target
Suspected People Smuggler Arrested After Investigation Identified Him
Children's Doctors Warn That Vaping Can Lead Young People to Smoking
Hundreds of Thousands of Students Receive GCSE and Vocational Results Across England, Wales and Northern Ireland
Here Is What Can Never Happen in Your Country: Taiwan Is Giving Money to All Its People Because It Collected Too Much Tax
UK Inflation Rises to 2.9% as Energy Bills Jump
UK Issues New Conduct Guide for Asylum Seekers on Consent and Respect
Moderna Shares Surge After Positive Personalized Skin Cancer Trial Results
UK Markets Watch US National Debt Surpass Forty Trillion Dollars
UK Broadcasters Urge Government to Invest in Digital Participation and Broadband
CVC Capital Partners and Standard Life Launch Two Billion Pound Pension Risk Transfer Venture
UK Private Sector Productivity Growth Accelerates in Second Quarter
UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband Condemns Israeli E1 Settlement Tender
UK Watchdog Investigates Trainline, Virgin Atlantic and RED Driving School Over Hidden Fees
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Plan Move to Private Home Outside London
UK Retail Sentiment Improves as Summer Spending Boosts Consumer Confidence
UK Aid Cuts Draw Warnings From Charities Over Humanitarian Consequences
UK Financial Conduct Authority Issues Guidance for Motor Finance Redress Scheme
UK Met Office Launches Aviation Programme to Reduce Climate Impact of Persistent Contrails
Former UK Civil Service Chief Received Record 500,000 Pound Severance Payment
West Midlands to Bring Bus Network Under Public Franchising Model
UK Government Drops Plan to Relax Affordable Housing Requirements After Backlash
×