A syndicate of 165 people, belonging to a Belgian village, won a collective jackpot of €143 million ($151.18 million) in the EuroMillions lottery.
The residents from Antwerp province’s Olmen made equal payments for purchasing the tickets at their local newsagent. As per the Belgian National Lottery, each resident won around €868,000 ($9,17,967) in the lottery.
Tuesday’s draw saw more than 27 million entries. The prize money of the final jackpot was €142,897,164 ($15,11,83,056), said EuroMillions.
The National Lottery’s spokesperson Joke Vermoere said that Belgium has seen group successes, however, this was the biggest group win ever.
Vermoere was at the newsagents when the news reached some of the lottery winners on Wednesday. “Their reactions ranged from stoicism to euphoria,” she added.
The spokesperson said that the lottery win is the “best Christmas present”. The newsagents’ owner, who has been the organiser of various group pots in the past, said that he repeated the news of lottery win “five to six times” as his customers were unable to believe the win.
“They all played together in the same newsagent in Olmen, where they each invested €15. It is not the first time that De Pershoek organises this kind of group pot, but it is the first time that they win so much,” she stated.
However, they have not revealed the identities of the winners. However, this is not the biggest EuroMillions jackpot in history, in July a single played had won £195 million ($239.26 million).
Earlier, a British couple won £184 million ($225.69 million) in Gloucester.
Nine European countries – France, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Austria, Portugal, Belgium, Ireland, Spain and Luxembourg – organise the EuroMillions jackpot. On Tuesday, the winning numbers were 12, 20, 25, 26 and 27, with Lucky Stars eight and 12.
(With inputs from agencies)
