Two years ago, a district in Madrid got lucky in Spain’s hugely popular Christmas lottery, with people working or living there winning prizes of between €120,000 (US$125,000) and €3 million.
As Spaniards gear up for the next windfall from the world’s richest lottery known as “el Gordo”, or the “Fat One”, the 2014 winners in the Almagro area – and people who know them – discussed how their lives had changed.
Some retired early, others opened a new business and one football betting addict lost all his money. But, by and large, many kept going steadily on in the same job.
Their profiles vary widely, from 32 workers at Madrid’s Wax Museum – 80 per cent of whom continue to work there – to employees of the exclusive Genova Financial Club, shopkeepers, insurance brokers and nuns.
People like Arturo Aguirre, owner of the Kalko stationery store, who won €320,000 two years ago on December 22, the day each year when the lottery is drawn.