African
migrants hit it big in Spain Christmas lottery
By Alan Clendenning
By Alan Clendenning
In this
Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2015 picture, a Senegalese man named Ngame, who told
reporters that he was rescued by Spain’s coast guard traveling from Africa’s
western coast toward Spain’s Canary Islands, speaks after discovering he won
euro400,000 ($438,000) in Roquetas de Mar, in Almeria province, Spain. About 35
African migrants, including at least one rescued at sea from an overcrowded
wooden boat, are among the top prize winners of Spain’s Christmas lottery,
according to the owner of the lottery agency that sold more than 1,000 tickets
worth 400,000 euros ($438,000) each.
MADRID (AP) —
About 35 African migrants, including at least one rescued at sea from an
overcrowded wooden boat, are among the top prize winners of Spain's Christmas
lottery, according to the owner of the lottery agency that sold more than 1,000
tickets that shelled out 400,000 euros ($438,000) each.
The winners
who bought the tickets in the southern coastal city of Roquetas de Mar included
migrants from Senegal, Mali and Morocco, agency owner Jose Martin told La Voz
de Almeria newspaper in a story published Thursday.
Among them
was a Senegalese man named Ngame who told Spanish media that he and his wife
were rescued by Spain's coast guard in 2007 when their boat with 65 people was
traveling from Africa's western coast toward Spain's Canary Islands.
Outside the
lottery agency, Ngame was in tears as he clutched a photocopy of his winning
ticket with the number 79,140. He thanked Spain for saving his life and giving
him the chance to play the country's world famous lottery.
"Today I
thank the Spanish government, the Spaniards too," Ngame told Ondacero
radio. "They saved us when we were in the middle of the sea."
Roquetas de
Mar is in Almeria province, where many migrants toil in greenhouses as
vegetable and fruit laborers. The area also relies heavily on tourism, but
unemployment is 31 percent — much higher than the already sky-high national
rate of 21 percent.
View
galleryIn this Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2015 picture, a Senegalese …
In this
Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2015 picture, a Senegalese man named Ngame, who told
reporters that he was
Ngame did not
give his last name to reporters but said life has been difficult for him and
his wife since they arrived in Almeria. They had not decided how they would use
the jackpot.
"I'm not
sure," he said. "It's too soon to decide. We have to talk and
see."
Agency owner
Martin said some of the migrants weren't sure how they could collect their
winnings, so he accompanied them to their banks to explain what to do.
Although
other lotteries offer larger top prizes, Spain's El Gordo (The Fat One) is the
world's richest, and unites the country because almost everyone takes part.
There are 24
million prizes in all for a country with a population of 47 million — and
players in droves form pools with friends, family and colleagues to buy the
20-euro ($22) tickets.
Across Spain,
people stay glued to the television on Dec. 22 as lower-level winning numbers
are announced until the El Gordo number is drawn. Then people who purchased
winning tickets show up outside the lottery agency that sold them and uncork
bottles of sparkling wine in gleeful street fiestas.
The lottery
has always been immensely popular but has taken on special importance in recent
years as Spain struggled through the bursting of a real estate bubble and the
European debt crisis. While lottery winners used to buy apartments or new cars
during Spain's boom years, many winners now pay off debts.
Students also
featured heavily this year — nearly half the winning tickets were bought at the
Roquetas de Mar lottery agency by a high school in the nearby town of Laujar de
Andarax, population of 1,600. Students then resold the tickets to raise money
for a school trip, meaning the town was flush with winners.
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