Most Heartbreaking Lottery Story: Couple's Attempt to Buy Lottery Tickets That Won $48M Never Went Through Due to Low Balance

Edwina and David from Fleetwood, Lancashire, have been regular players for years. The couple believed they had finally hit the $48 million jackpot when six of their chosen numbers — 01, 02, 04, 19, 28, 41 — matched those on the Lottomobile app. They participated in the draw on 23rd December 2015.

However, excitement quickly turned to despair when they couldn't claim a single penny of the winnings. The couple thought their financial worries might finally be over, but that dream was shattered when they discovered that the transaction for their jackpot numbers never went through because of insufficient funds in their account.

'When the numbers came up, it looked like we had got all six and had won the jackpot, but when I checked, there was nothing from Camelot,' Edwina said. 'I rang customer services at Camelot, and the person I spoke to said they could see from their records that we had intended to buy those numbers, but they said the purchase did not go through because we only had 60p in our account.'

Edwina explained that they had attempted to top up their account but did not realise the transaction was unsuccessful. '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,' she told a media outlet.

'I am gutted, but what can we do? 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. I have just had to carry on with things and not get too down. Shocked isn't the word, but as a family we stick together and just have to be grateful for what we've got,' she added. Despite the significant disappointment, the couple intends to continue playing the lottery.

Camelot Reveals There Were No Attemps to Top up Account

Contrary to Edwina's account, a Camelot spokesperson stated that the player attempted to buy an online Lotto ticket, but there is no record of the player trying to add funds to their account. The spokesperson added that the couple attempted to purchase the ticket multiple times on 23rd December from 7 pm onwards. The cut-off for ticket purchases is 7.30 pm.

'The player would have received an error message on every occasion, confirming this. We do not have any record of the player attempting to add funds to their account, nor would anyone from our customer services team have any visibility of the numbers that the player attempted to purchase, because that level of detail wouldn't be shown on the screen in front of them,' according to Camelot.

The spokesperson explained that when players successfully buy a lottery ticket online, they see a purchase confirmation displayed on the screen, receive an email confirming the transaction, and can view the ticket in their National Lottery online account.

Camelot confirmed that only successful purchases are entered into the draw, and it is the player's responsibility to ensure their account is adequately funded to complete the purchase.