Immigrants share in world's richest lottery
Source: Agencies |
December 23, 2009, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
IMMIGRANT workers shared in some of the spoils in Spain's Christmas lottery, the world's richest, yesterday.
The top prize of the lottery went to holders of tickets numbered 78294. The number appears on 1,950 tickets, and each holder wins 300,000 euros (US$430,000).
Organizers said the tickets bearing that number were sold in a lottery office in central Madrid.
Two of the lucky ticket holders were immigrant workers.
"You go to bed at night with nothing and the next day you're a millionaire!" joked phone shop worker Rafael Lara, 24, from the Dominican Republic, who won 300,000 euros.
"When I found out, I didn't know what to do, how to react. I rang my mother and she can't believe it. I still don't know what I'll do with the money."
Just as jubilant was unemployed 50-year-old Ecuadorean Sabino Calderon, who also won 300,000 euros.
"I rang my family in Ecuador and they can't believe it," said Sabino, who has five children.
"This is a present. I will invest the money in a business and also give some to my people in Ecuador."
Thousands of other people won smaller prizes in the lottery, which is known as "El Gordo" (The Fat One) and is held each year on December 22. The lottery dishes out 2.32 billion euros in prize money.
The numbers were drawn by pupils of Madrid's Saint Ildefonso School in a nationally televised draw.
Other lotteries have bigger individual top prizes, but the Gordo is the world's richest for the total sum paid out.
The top prize of the lottery went to holders of tickets numbered 78294. The number appears on 1,950 tickets, and each holder wins 300,000 euros (US$430,000).
Organizers said the tickets bearing that number were sold in a lottery office in central Madrid.
Two of the lucky ticket holders were immigrant workers.
"You go to bed at night with nothing and the next day you're a millionaire!" joked phone shop worker Rafael Lara, 24, from the Dominican Republic, who won 300,000 euros.
"When I found out, I didn't know what to do, how to react. I rang my mother and she can't believe it. I still don't know what I'll do with the money."
Just as jubilant was unemployed 50-year-old Ecuadorean Sabino Calderon, who also won 300,000 euros.
"I rang my family in Ecuador and they can't believe it," said Sabino, who has five children.
"This is a present. I will invest the money in a business and also give some to my people in Ecuador."
Thousands of other people won smaller prizes in the lottery, which is known as "El Gordo" (The Fat One) and is held each year on December 22. The lottery dishes out 2.32 billion euros in prize money.
The numbers were drawn by pupils of Madrid's Saint Ildefonso School in a nationally televised draw.
Other lotteries have bigger individual top prizes, but the Gordo is the world's richest for the total sum paid out.
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