The holidays’ season can be a stressful time for many. Rushing around trying to get presents in order for your loved ones, planning an extravagant dinner, and of course finding the money to pay for all of this! It’s safe to assume that we would all love a bit of luck around the festive season, and you can get luckier than winning the lottery!
Here are a few stories about some rather lucky winners of the holidays’ season of 2015:
Euro-Millions Mega Friday Draw Sends Lucky Winners to Private Chalet in Sweden
The Mega Friday Draw is a special prize draw that takes place on the final Friday Euro-Millions draw of each month. Each ticket has a ‘millionaire maker’ code which nets the recipient with a cool £1million, not to mention a luxury prize that changes with each month.
December’s draw saw ten lucky winners net £1million in cash as well as the option for a winter or summer getaway in a luxurious château in Sweden. The prize included travel for seven guests to the Copperhill Mountain Lodge, as well as plenty of fun activates such as zip-lining, visiting a frozen lake and a hiking tour of the area.
To top things off, each winner also enjoyed the talents of a professional chef during their stay, as well as access to numerous luxury spa treatments. They were even provided with a drinks allowance so that everyone could celebrate in style!
Migrant From Senegal Nets Christmas Jackpot in Spanish Lottery Draw
A man from Senegal named Nagbe made the perilous journey from Morocco to Spain on the back of an overcrowded boat seeking a better life for him and his wife almost 8 years ago. He was lucky enough to be saved by the Spanish coastguard and made it safely into Spain where he settled down.
Previously unemployed, Nagbe was in for a welcomed surprise this festive season, having won €400,000 in Spain’s annual Christmas lottery draw. He was part of a group of 1,600 winning ticket holders, having purchased his ticket in the southern city Roquetas de Mar.
“I just can’t believe this, I can tell you that on some days we do not have five euros between the two of us,” he explains to the local newspaper La Voz de Almeria, who reported the story.
He had recently been let go from his work, where he picked fruit in one of the many greenhouses found in the Almeria region of Spain. Luckily for him, he decided to buy a ticket for the ‘El Gordo’, which translates has ‘the Fat One’, Spain’s annual Christmas lottery draw.
This lottery is notably different from others, as it focuses on spreading the wealth across thousands of different people, rather than the few winners found in the majority of other lotto draws. ‘El Gordo’ is actually one of the world’s most generous lotteries, having dished out a whopping €2.2billion in 2015.
The draw is part of an on-going tradition that dates back centuries, having begun in 1812 and has run each year since then – even the Spanish civil war didn’t interrupt this tradition! Friends and family members tend to all pitch in to buy tickets for the draw, which costs €20 each.
Iraqi Man Wins Oregon Lotto despite Never Stepping Foot in the US
A businessman from Baghdad found himself on the receiving end of some good luck this December, having won the lottery jackpot in the Oregon Megabucks. That’s right; a man from Iraq won a jackpot for a lottery in the US.
The winning ticket for a draw that took place in August had never been claimed, and going into December, it looked to remain that way, that is until the man from Iraq walked into the doors of the lottery office in Salem, Oregon, to claim his prize.
Staff members working at the office were understandably a little confused, seeing as the ticket had been purchased in the USA from a person who had never visited the country. It was all legitimate however, as he had bought the ticket using theLotter.com – a website through which anyone can purchase tickets to the world’s biggest lotteries. That meant the ticket was purchased in the USA, making it totally legal.
The winning ticket had never left the country either, as it was kept in storage whilst the man worked on getting his travel visa in order. Had it left the country, the ticket would have been invalid, as state lottery tickets cannot be removed from the state they were purchased in.
As per the rules of the lotteries in the USA, you can either opt for your prize to be paid in one lump sum, or over 20 instalments. The gentleman decided to take his 4.6million jackpot in instalments, and more than likely had a fantastic end to the year!
