A young couple was left devastated after their numbers came up for the £182 million ($216 million) jackpot on the EuroMillions... before finding out they were not eligible for the prize.
Rachel Kennedy and Liam McCrohan, who were 19 and 21 at the time, were stunned when they realized that the numbers they put on every week had been drawn in 2021.
Rachel told The Sun at the time: "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."
The couple instantly began to imagine buying their dream mansion and luxury cars, before calling up to verify that they were about to be one of the UK's biggest-ever lottery winners - but were soon to face crushing disappointment.
Rachel had played the same numbers for the past five weeks in a row, but was devastated to realize that her payment hadn't gone through for her ticket on the crucial night.
She explained: "I called the number thinking that I had won £182 million 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.'
"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."
The young couple from Hertfordshire admitted they got "a bit carried away" with dreaming about how they would spend the mega-millions after they checked the numbers on the National Lottery app.
Liam had also shared his heartbreak at coming within sniffing distance of never having to work again or worry about paying the bills, writing on Twitter: "When your Mrs decides not to play the EuroMillions... and all 7 of her usual numbers come up."
Despite having £182 million literally slip through her grasp, Rachel admitted: "I’ve never won anything before, we’ve just got the worst luck when it comes to stuff like this."
Liam added: "She 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."
While most of us dream of winning the lottery and never having to worry about financial matters again, past winners have proven it can be both a blessing and a curse.
Jane Park, from Edinburgh, Scotland, was one such lucky ticketholder after she scooped $1 million aged just 17 from the first lottery ticket she ever bought.
However, in an interview with Dr. Phil, Jane revealed that she believed she was far too young to win the lottery - later successfully campaigning for the minimum age to be raised from 16 to 18 years old to play - and struggled with death threats, stalkers, and the media attention that came with her riches.
While she enjoyed the initial thrill of winning, she found it went downhill after feeling pressured by the lottery organizer to go public with her win - something that is not compulsory for lottery winners in the UK.
After a series of difficult events followed - including being hospitalized after cosmetic surgery left her suffering from sepsis - Jane even threatened to sue the lottery company.
"In the UK, it was 18 to gamble and 16 to play the lottery," she explained. "You couldn't put a pound in a machine or couldn't go in the shop and buy cigarettes or alcohol, and you couldn't go into a casino, but you could play the lottery.
"I was basically wanting them to listen, like me calling them up and saying 'you should raise the age'. They were never going to listen and that is why I went massive with it."
