A man missed out on a $169 million lottery jackpot because he was too hard up to play his normal numbers.

Carl Nordmann, a 50-year-old factory worker at a computer firm in Renfrewshire, Scotland, has played the same three lines on the Euromillions draw for the last two years, reports The Sun.

However, after having some of his work shifts cut back, he decided to play two, instead of three lines, saving himself just over $3. And he was left stunned when the winning numbers matched the numbers he would usually have picked for his third line.

Had the dad-of-three played his three lines as normal, he would have scooped an amazing $169m.

When finally checked which numbers came up, he told The Sun: "I just could not believe my eyes when I saw those numbers on screen. My wife and I cried.

“We are struggling financially and this would have changed our lives.”