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| BALL FOR TOP PRIZE OF 4 MILLION EUROS |
This
year’s Christmas is made for 35 African migrants, among them at least one saved
from drowning after the capsize of an overcrowded wooden boat, as they were
among the winners of the top prize in Spain's Christmas lottery. This
information was released by the owner of the lottery agency that sold more than
1 000 tickets that won $438 000 each. One of the winners was Ngame, a
Senegalese who spoke of the rescue of him and his wife by the Spanish coast
guard when he travelled with 65 others from the western coast of Africa to
Spain’s Canary Island in 2007.
The
winning tickets were purchased in Roquetas de Mar, a city in the southern coast
of Spain and among the lucky buyers were the migrants from Senegal, Mali and
Morocco, the agency owner Jose Martin told La Voz de Almeria newspaper in a
story published on Thursday.
The
lucky Ngame was seen at the lottery agency in tears holding his winning ticket
with the number 79140 as he expressed his gratefulness to Spain for not only saving
his life but giving him the chance to play the country's world famous lottery. He
said life in Spain had not been easy for him and his wife since they came to
Almeria.
The
owner of the Agency reported that a number of the migrants had not been sure of
how they could collect their winnings so he followed them to their bank
branches to assist them to cash their money.
Spain's
El Gordo also known as “The Fat One” is the world's richest with 24 million
prizes in all in the country that has a population of 47 million people and is
played by almost everybody in the country as friends, family and colleagues join
to buy the €20 tickets.
The
lottery has become increasingly patronized in Spain, as the country went
through a declining real estate market and the European debt crisis, resulting
in lottery winners rather than acquire new property with their earnings, use it
to pay off debts.
As
the results were announced, people in Spain were tuned to the television with
rapt attention awaiting the El Gordo number. After the announcement, winners in
line with the tradition go on their own or in groups to the lottery agency where
they bought the tickets and celebrate their winning by opening bottles of
sparkling wine for all to drink.
This
year’s lottery was influenced by high school children in Laujar de Andarax a
nearby town, who bought nearly half of the winning tickets at the Roquetas de
Mar agency; they thereafter resold the tickets to raise money for a school trip
making many winners in the town.
COURTESY: AP
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