French grandad wins €132m on first lotto ticket
A French grandfather who won €132 million in the Euromillions lottery would have made his compatriots envious this week, when he revealed his win was the first time he had played the lottery. He now wants to use some of the money to set a home for the elderly.
Surely it doesn’t get luckier than this. The pensioner, from the Seine-et-Marne suburb of Paris, was driving in his car on March 29th, when he happened to hear a radio ad for that night’s Euromillions draw, which had a jackpot of €132 million.
Finding exactly two euros in his pocket, the retiree stopped at a tabac in the town of Provins, in the Seine-et-Marne department, and spent it on his first ever Euromillions lottery ticket.
No children’s birthdays, no magic numbers, just a ‘Flash’ pick, an option which automatically chose his numbers.
When he checked the results on TV the next day, he was “glued to the screen", the pensioner told France Television.
When he told his children he had won, they evidently thought it was a joke.
The lucky pensioner was given two months of anonymity by ‘Française des jeux’, the country’s authority on gambling and lotteries, in order to make financial arrangements.
He broke his silence with a televised phone interview on Tuesday.
How does the newly-minted granddad plan to enjoy his fortune? First, he intends to buy a French-made luxury car, and then take a trip to India with his wife.
After that, he wants to invest the bulk of his winnings in his children. “This will set them up for many decades, many generations to come,” he said.
The millionaire pensioner appears to also have a charitable spirit, though and is looking into using his astronomical bank balance to set up a home for the elderly.
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Surely it doesn’t get luckier than this. The pensioner, from the Seine-et-Marne suburb of Paris, was driving in his car on March 29th, when he happened to hear a radio ad for that night’s Euromillions draw, which had a jackpot of €132 million.
Finding exactly two euros in his pocket, the retiree stopped at a tabac in the town of Provins, in the Seine-et-Marne department, and spent it on his first ever Euromillions lottery ticket.
No children’s birthdays, no magic numbers, just a ‘Flash’ pick, an option which automatically chose his numbers.
When he checked the results on TV the next day, he was “glued to the screen", the pensioner told France Television.
When he told his children he had won, they evidently thought it was a joke.
The lucky pensioner was given two months of anonymity by ‘Française des jeux’, the country’s authority on gambling and lotteries, in order to make financial arrangements.
He broke his silence with a televised phone interview on Tuesday.
How does the newly-minted granddad plan to enjoy his fortune? First, he intends to buy a French-made luxury car, and then take a trip to India with his wife.
After that, he wants to invest the bulk of his winnings in his children. “This will set them up for many decades, many generations to come,” he said.
The millionaire pensioner appears to also have a charitable spirit, though and is looking into using his astronomical bank balance to set up a home for the elderly.
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