A National Lottery player has expressed her disbelief after her "crazily unlucky" number choices left her missing out on a multi-million-pound jackpot.
Nicole Makrigannis, 23, from Liverpool could have won £3.6million via the Set For Life draw - a very comfortable £10,000 per month for 30 years - but in an excruciating turn of events, all her picks except the 'life ball' were just one number off.
Her ticket for last Monday's draw saw her pick 3, 12, 20, 39 and 44 - the winning numbers were 2, 11, 19, 38 and 43.
Makrigannis, who works as a waitress, managed to nail the life ball - number 6 - but her horrid luck in falling short by the barest of margins on the five main numbers left her with no return on her £1.50 ballot.
Nicole Makrigannis lost out by a single number FIVE times on her ticket
PA/Facebook
The 23-year-old took to social media to lament her luck - and her post showing off her misfortune went viral.
Alongside photos of her ticket and the eventual winning numbers, she said: "Oh my god. Why do bad things always happen to me... It wasn't in the universe's plan to let me live my life."
The viral post garnered thousands of comments, which Makrigannis delighted in replying to; one social media user said: "It's called 'One Off' - usually means you're really close to the big win. The universe is just testing to see how you’ll respond," to which she replied: "Please don't fuel my addiction."
The unlucky odds will be especially disappointing to the Liverpool local - she told one commenter that she didn't want to be rich and famous, and entered "things like this" so she could buy herself and her mum a house and a car.
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Makrigannis showed off her narrow misses on social media
X/GB News/PA
One social media user pointed out the "good news about the life ball" - but Makrigannis joked: "Only thing I got for life was disappointment."
She did manage to take some solace in the loss, declaring the money with which she bought the ticket "wasn't [hers] in the first place".
Though if Makrigannis had won the lottery, it may not have been a life-changing experience in the way she'd hoped - several winners have detailed how their fortunes turned after winning big - with some claiming the existence of a "lottery curse".
Mark Gardiner, now in his 60s, won £11million on the lottery back in 1995 - but vowed he would do everything differently if he cashed in the jackpot again.
He and his then business partner Paul Maddison scooped a huge sum of £22,590,829 - which they split equally between them - but nearly three decades later, the East Sussex man is back working an ordinary job as a glazier.
Gardiner made series of bad investments and divorced four times, the last marriage ending in 2004.
While a grandad who won £80,000 in the National Lottery said he "wants to go back on benefits" after blowing his winnings in just weeks.
Daniel Millar from Motherwell, Scotland, failed to tell the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) about scooping the windfall, and now no longer qualifies for income support, housing benefit and council tax reduction.