Credit: @rachelkennedyyx/Instagram
National Lottery Responds After Couple Told They Can’t Collect $200 Million Jackpot
The National Lottery has responded to a couple who were told they couldn’t claim their $200 million jackpot.
For many of us, winning the lottery is what dreams are made of.
It’s a classic ice breaker at parties, with some people naming purchases they would make that are highly questionable.
It’s the news no one expects to receive, but would absolutely love for it to happen.
Yet for one young couple, their ‘win’ ended up turning into a complete nightmare.
Winning numbers
Rachel Kennedy and Liam McCrohan, who were 19 and 21 at the time, believed they had won the £182 million ($216 million) jackpot on the EuroMillions.
Speaking to The Sun, Kennedy said: “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.”
But despite being told her numbers were a ‘winning match,’ one vital error meant that the two were never able to collect their money – potentially making the scenario the highest high, to the lowest low, ever witnessed.
Spending the winnings
The Hertfordshire couple – who had played the same numbers for multiple weeks in a row – admit they got a bit ‘carried away’ in fantasizing about how they could spend the money.
McCrohan, an economics student, was working out how they could go through the huge sum of cash.
He admitted: “I had kind of spent it in my head already.”
For McCrohan, it meant the couple could buy their ‘dream home and dream car.’
However, the couple quickly found out they wouldn’t be getting their hands on the staggering fortune.
Lottery incident goes viral
After finding out what had actually happened, McCrohan took to X (formerly Twitter) and posted about their unfortunate mishap – he had no idea their story would go viral.
The post ‘blew up’ and got over 31,000 reactions, meanwhile, Kennedy was ‘too embarrassed’ to talk about it.
The vital error
It turned out that Kennedy, a university student, hadn’t realized one huge error – she didn’t have the necessary funds in her account to purchase the ticket.
Her account had been automatically set up to enter into the draw with her usual numbers.
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.”
Kennedy added that they had the ‘worst luck.’
National Lottery issues a response
After the heart-shattering moment took the internet by storm, the National Lottery responded.
A spokesperson for the company stated: “We’re aware of Rachel’s story, and hope she gets in early to buy a ticket for the next big draw.”
They added that they wish her ‘the best of luck in future draws.’
The Euromillions jackpot that the couple unfortunately missed out on ended up being rolled over five times before ultimately being claimed by a winner in Switzerland, as per the Daily Mail.
For those wondering, the lucky numbers were 6, 12, 22, 29, 33, 6, and 11.
This isn’t the first time the lottery has caused a whole ton of drama, as one couple ended up arguing over their ‘joint’ $1.3 million win, with one person even saying: “One million pounds has never brought so much misery.”
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