In Spain there was an entire village which won the lottery.

In 2011, 250 residents of the small town Sodeto purchased lottery tickets in a group.  This was the years largest jackpot of X-mas lottery – El Gordo (the big one).  Sellers went selling the tickets door to door, for various amounts, the entire village participated!

The entire village….. well almost, except for one!  Only Costis Mitzotakis, a Greek man married to a girl from the village, chose not to participate in the lottery!  As a documented film maker he still managed to gain a little with this one time opportunity of filming a whole village of lottery winners.

This winning came at an opportune moment,  the residents of this village have suffered terribly with the recession of the euro, each day was difficult.  Now everyone sleeps better now with at least €100,000 for a single ticket holder at least twice as much for those who purchased more tickets.

Immediately after hearing of their winning the residents rode home on their tractors and searched for their purchased tickets.  There was tension between those residents who purchased more tickets and those who purchased less.  But a year later the village is tranquil, with villagers shopping modestly and with thought.  Jaguar sellers came to the village attempting to sell their cars but the residents told them “we prefer our tractors”.

By the way, the next years El Gordo lottery was a sum of €2 billion!



It’s true! Playing in groups increases your chances of winning!