SHARE
COPY LINK

LOTTERY

Swiss winner of Euro Millions remains mystery

The winner of a 27.2-million-franc ($28.9-million) Euro Millions lottery jackpot who bought the lucky ticket in Switzerland has yet to step forward to claim the prize. (UPDATE BELOW)

Swiss winner of Euro Millions remains mystery
Photo: Loterie Romande

Loterie Romande, the lottery organization for French-speaking Switzerland, said a punter who validated his or her ticket in Aigle, a town in the canton of Vaud, won the draw on Tuesday night.

The winning numbers were 19, 23, 34, 47 and 50 with “lucky stars” 04 and 06.

The Swiss winner was the only European player to have the right combination of numbers in the lottery.

It marked the second-biggest win in western Switzerland since Loterie Romande began in 2004.

The biggest was a 99-million-franc jackpot won by a resident of Sierre, in the canton of Valais, in 2005.

Tuesday's windfall win has prompted plenty of speculation in Aigle, a town of 9,700 in the Chablais region below the Vaud Alps.

Le Matin reported online that according to “certain sources”, the mystery winner is a 30-year-old man, originally from the Balkans.

The winning ticket was validated at one of five lottery vending kiosks in Aigle, 43 kilometres east of Lausanne.

The winner “had a chance in 116 million to gain this sum,” Danielle Perrette, a spokesman for Loterie Romande told Le Matin.

It may well be that the winner is getting financial advice on how to handle the millions.

Perrette said 35 percent of the jackpot is subject to income taxes.

Fréderic Borloz, the mayor of Aigle, does not know who the winner is.

With a laugh, Borloz said that just the previous day he explained to his eight-year-old son that he “shouldn’t count too much on the lottery to make a living”.  

UPDATE: Le Matin reported online on Thursday that the winner of the jackpot is an unemployed 26-year-old man of Albanian origins, a slight change from its initial account.

It is not clear whether the man, reportedly single, has claimed his prize but he has six months to do so.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

CHRISTMAS

El Gordo: Winners across Spain celebrate Christmas lottery

The winning number for top prize in the world-famous lottery was 72897, which was called a little after noon.

El Gordo: Winners across Spain celebrate Christmas lottery
The winning number! Photo: AFP

Tuesday’s celebrations for Spain’s annual El Gordo were less enthusiastic than in usual years with no live audience for the draw and without the usual crowds gathering together at lottery shops were winning tickets were sold.

But Covid restrictions didn’t stop the centuries old tradition that sees children from San Ildefonso school in Madrid singing out the winning numbers in a long televised ceremony that lasts much of the day.

Across Spain people tuned in to see the draw with a prizes totalling €2.4 billion, a top jackpot of €680 million to be shared among those with the winning numbers. 

Most people buy small fractions of full tickets, with the most common purchase, a 20 euro share, offering a top prize of 400,000 euros ($490,000).

But this year sales were down an estimated 11 percent on last year, a figure blamed on the closure of bars and offices were most people club together to buy decimos.

Shares in this year’s first prize ticket, 72897, were sold by kiosks in many cities. The number was drawn at just after noon on Tuesday.

A little after 11am, the third prize had been called out: 52472. The second prize was called just over an hour later: 06095.

Here is a map of where all the Christmas lottery winning tickets were sold across Spain:

One of this year’s most sought-after numbers – 14320, to mark the country’s March 14 lockdown – won nothing.

To check your numbers go to the official page HERE.

READ ALSO: 

SHOW COMMENTS