Spanish lotto win rains cash on whole village – well, almost

By SUZANNE DALEY
Published on Thursday 2 February 2012 00:00

JUST a few weeks ago, the 70 households in the isolated Spanish farming village of Sodeto were struggling under the country’s economic downturn and the ravages of a severe drought.

Some were even thinking of passing up on Spain’s huge Christmas lottery, known as El Gordo – the fat one – which is something of a national obsession. But they bought tickets out of loyalty to the local housewives’ association, which makes a small percentage on the sales.

And then, Sodeto’s number came in.

Every household in the village – apart from one – held at least a piece of a winning ticket in the lottery’s huge first prize, €700 million (£585m), the biggest ever.

Some of Sodeto’s residents, mostly farmers and jobless construction workers, won millions. The least fortunate came away with a minimum of £82,500.

Like many other local farmers, Jose Manuel Penella Cambra, who had recently invested in more efficient irrigation techniques, worried about how he would meet his payments this year. But his wife bought two tickets, worth £165,000, and his son found two more she had bought earlier and had forgotten about, bringing the total to £330,000.

“I kept saying: Look for some more, look for some more,” he joked over coffee in the village cafe.

The day of the lottery announcement was collective madness, the residents said, as they realised how many of their neighbours had won, too.

As news spread, the farmers raced into town on their tractors. The mayor, Rosa Pons, used a megaphone to congratulate everyone.

“Some of the ladies talked about going to the hairdresser,” Ms Pons said. “But the hairdresser won, too. And she said, ‘I’m not working today.’ So that ended that.”

The Christmas lottery, first established in 1812, is a huge event in Spain. This year there were 1,800 first-prize-winning tickets with the same number, 58268, each paying £330,000. As the tickets cost about £16 each, they are often broken down into £4 “participations”.

But selling the tickets was difficult this year. Even the cheapest “participations” were expensive for some.

At one point, Mari Carmen Lambea, a member of the housewives’ association, tried to sell a ticket to a friend whose husband was unemployed. But her friend could only promise to pay her later. When the number was called, the friend still had not paid. But Mrs Lambea had saved the ticket for her anyway.

So far, though, no-one has splurged on anything much, Ms Pons said. “Are you going to see Mercedes going up and down our streets?” she said. “I don’t think so. People are going to invest in the fields and maybe a sofa.”

The only resident who did not win was Costis Mitsotakis, a Greek film-maker.

Mr Mitsotakis said it would have been nice to win. But he has benefited nonetheless. He had been trying to sell some land without much success. The day after the lottery a neighbour called to say he would buy it. The next day another neighbour called. But Mr Mitsotakis refused to get into a bidding war.

“This is a small village,” he said. “You don’t want bad feelings.”

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LoteriaNacional

Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 12:32 PM

It’s great to see so many winners in the Loteria Nacional Christmas draw. When comparing the Spanish Lottery with the equivalent US Powerball or MegaMillions I wonder if people in the US would prefer this type of format where so many more people share the jackpot winnings? For more information on Loteria Nacional visit our English Language version of the site at http:www.loterianacional.comen

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reincarnated

Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 09:40 AM

"The least fortunate came away with a minimum of £82,500." I'd say the least fortunate was the household that didnt buy a ticket.

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