Devastation of UK couple who missed out on £124m Euromillions jackpot by ONE number – and ended up with just £1,900
Jan and Paul French thought they'd scooped an enormous jackpot when they saw the result and were gutted when they realised how close they had come
A COUPLE have been left gutted after missing out on the £124million Euromillions jackpot - by just one number.
Jan and Paul French thought they’d scooped the lot as they looked at the result.
But after double checking they realised they had only matched four balls and two stars instead of five balls and two stars.
The married pair – who have two children Tia, 10 and eight-year-old Lewis – only got a payout of £1,938.
Instead of being able to splash out on yachts and supercars they will barely have enough for a second-hand banger.
They’ve now sworn never to play again.
Tyre moulder Paul, 41, said: “I’ve been in a sulk all day about it.
“My pals said to me that I should be happy that I won nearly £2,000 but all I can think about is how close I came to winning big.
“I can’t see that I will ever get any closer than this."
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The couple had just had their front door damaged during an attempted burglary.
Dental nurse Jan, 39, of Wickford, Essex, joked: “At least we can but a new front door with the lotto win."
She says she enters the draw once a week and her hubby buys five tickets, twice a week.
Paul added: “My guardian angel was on my shoulder and she flew away at the very last second.
“I would rather have not won this amount and got so close as it’s all I can think about.
“It’s tempting to stop playing to be honest as it’s made me think I will never win.”
“If we had got the main five numbers and one lucky star it would have been well over £20,000 so we feel pretty unlucky right now."
What you need to win EuroMillions
To scoop the jackpot players must pick seven out of 50 regular numbers and two lucky stars out of 11. The odds of winning the top prize are 116,531,800 to 1.
Jackpot = 5 numbers + 2 lucky stars
Prize tier 2 = 5 numbers + 1 lucky star
Prize tier 3 = 5 numbers
Prize tier 4 = 4 numbers + 2 lucky stars
The jackpot they missed out on on Tuesday was for £124,041,722.
The winning ticket was 04, 07, 14, 34, 38 and lucky stars 04 and 11.
They had the same apart from 35 instead of 34.
Fifty five others won the same amount as them, including 12 in the UK.
No one won the jackpot.