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European lottery officials searching for big winner

Lottery officials across Europe were searching on Sunday for one of the continent’s richest people, who may be unaware that they possess a lottery ticket worth 126 million euros (US$171.5 million).

The EuroMillions jackpot is the world’s biggest ever single lottery prize, but the Madrid lottery shop that sold the ticket has so far been unable to trace the buyer.

If found, he or she would shoot into the club of the richest people in Europe.

A sign pinned to the window of the Black Cat lottery shop, just off Madrid’s central Plaza de Cibeles, boasted on Sunday that this was the place where the winning ticket had been sold.

The shop’s owner, Paloma Cateleiro, said that she had no idea who had bought the ticket but suspected the chit might be lying at the bottom of a tourist’s suitcase in some part of Europe.

“A lot of people come through here,” she said. “We might never find out who has won it.”

She said that the winner had put down 10 euros in the game, which let them make five different predictions of a combination of numbers that could land the jackpot.

“It could have gone to a tourist or to someone from outside Madrid, as we are right in the center,” said Ana Maria Rincon, one of the Black Cat’s lottery sellers.

The huge jackpot built up after the weekly draw was rolled over six times, with no winner since March 20. The chances of landing this jackpot had been estimated at 76 million to one.

The previous EuroMillions record was held by Dolores McNamara, from Ireland, who won more than 115 million euros on the game in 2005, though the biggest single lottery win ever was reported to be on Italy’s Superenalotto game, which handed out US$123 million to a winner in October.

Britain’s biggest ever lottery winner was Angela Kelly, a postal worker from East Kilbride, who won more than £35 million (US$53 million) from the EuroMillions jackpot in 2007.

EuroMillions winners do not have to go to the lottery shop where they bought the ticket to draw their prize money. Many opt to have the money sent to them by one of the nine lottery organizations across Europe that jointly run the game.

It was estimated that the 126 million euros would produce some 2,200 euros a day in interest. The winner would be able to buy up to a dozen Picassos or a couple of Airbus 320 airliners.
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