Legal row over EUR 6m lottery win

28 November 2003

TOLEDO – A pensioner who won EUR 6 million on Spain’s ONCE lottery was Friday embroiled in a legal row with former colleagues.

Maurilio Martinez, 63, won the huge prize in the ONCE lottery last week.

But his former colleagues at a vinegar factory have now claimed that they should share part of his massive win.

Martinez, whose whereabouts were unknown since he picked up his winnings, appeared in a court in Toledo to face legal claims that he was part of a lottery syndicate.

The judge, Andres Sanchez Magro, asked Paulina Ruiz, the ONCE seller who sold Marinez his ticket, to testify in front of the court.

But she told the court that she did not now if all the employees formed a group or not.

She had told the court in a submission that for several years workers from the factory had come to her to buy tickets for 37 people working there.

On the day the winning ticket was bought, they bought 47 coupons although only one of the tickets was for the largest draw, called the Big Coupon.

She said at first she had been happy that she sold the winning ticket but now feels “disgusted” with what has happening and wanted the whole thing to be cleared up.

Martinez’s former colleagues claim that they should be entitled to a stake in the prize as they all had a verbal agreement to share any winnings.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news