Couple miss a £35m Lottery win despite having right numbers
Payment for ticket failed to go through on app
A COUPLE thought they had finally hit the Lottery jackpot with a £35million win – then discovered a hitch had stopped their ticket registering.
Edwina and David Nylan, 60, chose all six winning numbers and believed they had a ticket via Camelot’s mobile app.
But the Lotto operators dashed their dreams by saying there was no record of their transaction for the draw on December 23.
Mrs Nylan, 55, said: ‘I am gutted. We’ve tried to have a laugh about it but we’re completely distraught. Shocked isn’t the word, but as a family we stick together and just have to be grateful for what we’ve got.
‘We have played for years and had our online account for some time so it is not as if we didn’t know what we were doing.’
The grandmother-of-seven said when they tried to buy a £2 ticket, their online Lottery account showed funds were too low. So they topped it up with £20 and the app confirmed they had bought a ticket with the random numbers 01-02-04-19-28-41. The couple, of Fleetwood, Lancashire, who have three sons, have been playing the lottery since it started in 1994. They only realised they were not millionaires after calling Camelot to claim the prize.
Mrs Nylan said: ‘This money could have changed our lives. We feel like we’ve been cheated out of it.’ She cares for elderly relatives while her husband, 60, works as a security officer.
‘We imagined being able to treat our family and live an amazing lifestyle with new cars, houses and holidays,’ added Mrs Nylan. ‘I have a sister who was brain-damaged when she was just nine months and can’t walk very well and needs a motorised wheelchair.’
She said their top-up was made before the 7.30pm deadline but not processed until after midnight the next day.
‘You get an email to confirm your purchase but I didn’t remember to check because it was just before Christmas and I was so busy,’ said Mrs Nylan.
‘Camelot has told me they are looking into it.’
The operator confirmed the couple made multiple bids to buy a ticket from 7pm but these failed as there was not enough in the account.
A spokesman said: ‘The player would have received an error message on every occasion. Only tickets that have been successfully purchased can be entered into the draw.’
The jackpot has since rolled over twice, making the top prize for today’s draw a record high of £46.5million.