Entire town, except one guy, wins $950M lottery
Just a few weeks ago, the 70 households in the isolated farming village of Sodeto were struggling under the double whammy of Spain's economic downturn and the ravages of a severe drought.
Some were even thinking of passing up 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 homemakers' association here, which makes a small percentage on the sales.
And then, their number came in.
All bu ...
Feb 2, 2012, 4:35 pm - Lottery News forum
Spanish Christmas lottery pays out billions
Days before Christmas, a tiny town of 2,000 in cash-strapped Spain found itself richer by 720 million (US$940 million) Thursday after scooping the top prize in the nation's famed Christmas lottery.
Billed as the world's richest, the lottery dishes out some 2.52 billion (US$3.29 billion) to winners across the nation.
The top prize dubbed El Gordo (The Fat One) was split among the holders of tickets bearing the number 58268. The number appeared on 1,800 tickets, giving winners 400,000 for th ...
Dec 23, 2011, 12:27 pm - Lottery News forum
Yuck! Taiwan dog poop lottery draws thousands
An innovative scheme to keep the streets of northern Taiwan clean has seen thousands of citizens dutifully collecting bags of dog poop in the hope of winning $2,000 in gold.
More than 4,000 residents of New Taipei City, which surrounds the capital, have signed up for the competition since it was launched in early August, and have so far collected 14,000 bags of the stuff.
The outcome of the campaign beat all our expectations, Lai Lien-chueh, from the city's environmental protection bureau ...
Dec 7, 2011, 3:12 pm - Lottery News forum
Man dropped from lottery syndicate wins share in court
A Melbourne, Austrailia, accountant has won his share of an $867,000 Tattslotto first division prize, three years after he was dropped from a 10-member Big Kahuna house syndicate.
A thrilled Danny Watson and his legal team beamed outside court after a magistrate found a newsagent and his company guilty of false and misleading conduct over the handling of the syndicate.
The magistrate said Mr Watson, a regular participant in the Fitzroy agency's system 17 entry, was entitled to damages of $ ...
Nov 13, 2011, 11:47 am - Lottery News forum
Struggling couple wins $10M lottery jackpot
Australian couple played the same numbers for 36 years
The overjoyed $10 million (US$10.5 million) winners of Thursday night's Australian Powerball game don't want to be named, but said they had been struggling to make ends meet on one income for years.
It will be life-changing, they said.
They plan to use some of the money to secure their financial future and some to help out their family and friends.
The couple played the same numbers for 36 years across a variety of lotto games.
...
Aug 26, 2011, 7:13 am - Lottery News forum
Casino says no way to $62 million slot machine payout
It seemed too good to be true a slot-machine jackpot of almost 43 million euros. And maybe it was.
Austrian state broadcaster ORF reports that Behar Merlaku is going to court over the refusal of the Bregenz casino to give him what he considers his win on March 26.
Casino officials do not dispute that the gaming machine showed a payout of nearly 43 million euros almost US$62 million. But they say that a malfunctioning computer chip was responsible for what they say was the faulty display.
...
Aug 16, 2011, 9:49 pm - Lottery News forum
Winning Lotto ticket survives washing machine
A four-week-old Lotto ticket survived a trip through the washing machine to net $250,000 for its Christchurch, New Zealand, owner.
The ticket bought at Pak'n'Save in Moorhouse for the July 9 Lotto draw shared the First Division prize with tickets bought in Auckland, Waitakere and Hastings.
The winner, who wants to stay anonymous, said he found the ticket last weekend after he washed an old pair of jeans.
I went through the wet pockets and realised I had washed a Lotto ticket in the jea ...
Aug 6, 2011, 7:56 am - Lottery News forum
Spain to privatize lottery
The Spanish government is close to selecting three advisers to help it sell shares in national lottery Sociedad Estatal de Loter as y Apuestas del Estado SA that could raise as much as $10.62 billion.
The choice of strategic, financial and legal advisers could be announced as soon as Tuesday, Aurelio Mart nez, chairman of Loter as y Apuestas del Estado, said in an interview. The mandates are considered prestigious for consulting firms, investment banks and law firms, even if the fees involved ...
May 24, 2011, 7:03 am - Lottery News forum
Euro Millions launches new Tuesday draw with €100M jackpot
Euro Millions, the multi-country lottery game played amongst European countries, is set to implement changes to the game and launch a new weekly lottery draw on Tuesdays with a massive 100 million (US$143M) jackpot.
A sales frenzy is expected for the first draw as players have just four days to buy their tickets, which went on sale yesterday.
The special draw marks Euro Millions moving to twice a week, as well as other changes to the game which are designed to create bigger jackpots and mo ...
May 8, 2011, 9:26 am - Lottery News forum
Siblings fight over lottery jackpot
Father died day after winning
The family of an Australian man who won almost $2 million in a lottery and died the next day has been fighting over who is entitled to the money.
Townsville Supreme Court has heard the fighting between Lajos Szanto's four children occurred over the wording of their father's will and whether or not he had bought the ticket for himself.
Lajos Szanto won $1,818,181.82 on February 13 last year, but was not able to enjoy his winnings after he died a day later, h ...
Apr 19, 2011, 6:30 am - Lottery News forum
