AFP, Madrid :
Spain’s annual Christmas lottery on Thursday showered 56 million euros ($58 million) on residents of a struggling town where nearly a third of the population is out of work.
Celebrating residents in Pinos Puente in the southern farming region of Andalucia danced, sang, embraced and sprayed sparkling wine in the streets, images broadcast on public television TVE showed.
“The tickets went to people with low incomes, people who really needed it,” Carmen Capilla, a local United Left town councillor told AFP by telephone.
Much of the winnings came from tickets sold by the local branch of the tiny United Left political coalition in Pinos Puente, with 258 of its tickets hitting the winning number for the second prize, each paying 125,000 euros.
Many charities and associations buy the tickets from the state-run lottery and resell them with a small markup as a way to raise funds.
The winning tickets will bring 32.2 million euros in prize money to the town of around 13,000 residents, which has an unemployment rate of 29 percent and a yearly municipal budget of just eight million euros.
Other winning tickets were sold by the local lottery office or other associations.
“It is a lot of money for a town that has been punished hard,” Pinos Puente mayor Jose Enrique Medina told AFP.
“The prize money was widely distributed, it went to many families that really needed it.”
Spain’s annual Christmas lottery on Thursday showered 56 million euros ($58 million) on residents of a struggling town where nearly a third of the population is out of work.
Celebrating residents in Pinos Puente in the southern farming region of Andalucia danced, sang, embraced and sprayed sparkling wine in the streets, images broadcast on public television TVE showed.
“The tickets went to people with low incomes, people who really needed it,” Carmen Capilla, a local United Left town councillor told AFP by telephone.
Much of the winnings came from tickets sold by the local branch of the tiny United Left political coalition in Pinos Puente, with 258 of its tickets hitting the winning number for the second prize, each paying 125,000 euros.
Many charities and associations buy the tickets from the state-run lottery and resell them with a small markup as a way to raise funds.
The winning tickets will bring 32.2 million euros in prize money to the town of around 13,000 residents, which has an unemployment rate of 29 percent and a yearly municipal budget of just eight million euros.
Other winning tickets were sold by the local lottery office or other associations.
“It is a lot of money for a town that has been punished hard,” Pinos Puente mayor Jose Enrique Medina told AFP.
“The prize money was widely distributed, it went to many families that really needed it.”
