Wheel of Fortune: Spanish beggar became a millionaire

The lucky winner of the millionth prize of the Bonoloto lottery was a woman who for four years begged for alms on the streets of the Spanish town of Alicante.

As for work, every day at 9 o’clock in the morning Mercedes came to the supermarket, located in the La Florida area in Alicante, to beg. Her “working day” ended at 2 pm. At this time, fresh tickets for the local Bonoloto lottery were delivered to the Estanco-54 lottery store located opposite, and Mercedes had already managed to collect its “earnings” – at least 1 euro.

For four years, until the second of August of this year, a street beggar bought a ticket every day in a shop, dreaming of winning. And on Tuesday, August 2, she became the owner of a grandiose gift of fate – her ticket won 1.2 million euros.

Lottery shop owner Marie-Ángeles Torregrosa told Mercedes after learning of the win: “You’ve made my life so easy!” Late the night before, Señora Torregrosa received a call from the studio where the lottery took place, saying that one of the tickets sold in her shop had won over a million. She recalls:

“We were all overjoyed, but we didn’t know which of our regular customers could win! It never occurred to me that it could be Mercedes. I even called my mother, because she buys a Bonoloto ticket every day, but The numbers didn’t match.

On Tuesday, Mercedes walked into a lottery store and said, “I think the numbers on TV are the same as mine.” After checking the numbers, the women were convinced that the beggar had become a millionaire, having won 1.2 million euros. Marie Angeles says:

“Here she burst into tears. Although the numbers matched, she still did not think that she had won such a large sum. When we learned about it, everyone cried with joy, and Mercedes was shaking with excitement. Everyone in our area found out about the big win and were happy for Mercedes, because everyone here knows how she begged for alms! She treated all passers-by kindly, and many here helped her.”

Mercedes’ life has not always been the same as the last 4 years. The owner of the lottery store says:

“Five years ago, she got into a difficult situation, and her finances were very tight. People in the neighborhood helped her when they saw her sitting in front of our store. Passers-by who left the stores offered her either a piece of bread or a package milk.”

With five children, Mercedes lives in a small house in a working-class neighborhood. Marie Angeles says:

“She can neither read nor write. Everyone is now giving her advice on how best to manage the winnings. After all, her old habits have not changed yet: she still comes here every day. According to Mercedes herself, she, as before , has breakfast in the same place, and the first thing she did with the money she won was to buy … a pair of slippers for only 5 euros. Now when she walks down the street, everyone starts applauding her, people are happy for the Mercedes. People in the streets scream her “Ole!”, as if in some Almodovarao movie.

The Marie Angeles lottery shop has been a family business for five generations. euronews. And after winning a lucky Mercedes, the hostess noticed that they began to come to her for a Bonoloto ticket much more often: everyone now wants to try their luck.

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