The New York Times reported on Tuesday that roughly 70 households in Sodeto bought winning tickets for Spain’s Christmas lottery.
But one man, filmmaker Costis Mitsotakis, had been overlooked when a town homemakers group made the rounds selling lottery tickets to raise money last year.
Every household that bought a share in the drawing takes home at least $130,000, Newser reported.
The lottery is called “El Gordo” and has been a Spanish staple for the last 200 years. Today, tickets go for $26 a pop. Sodeto residents and people from 17 nearby villages bought tickets with the same winning number from the civic group. Their jackpot pumped $150 million in winnings into the area. A single ticket paid out $520,000.
Mitsotakis told the Times that he was sad he didn’t win anything. But he did get one lucky break out of it. A neighbor bought a big chunk of land that Mitsotakis had been trying to sell.
Sodeto is northeast of Madrid with a population of 250 people, largely comprised of farmers and construction workers. The unemployment level was said to be high. But now, some families are sitting on millions of dollars.
