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Lucky Italian scoops record €163 million lottery win

The Local Italy
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Lucky Italian scoops record €163 million lottery win
An advert for the Superenalotto. Photo: Giuseppe Cacace/AFP

A €3 scratchcard turned out to be an extremely good investment for one Italian, who scooped €163.5 million in a record jackpot on Thursday night.

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The Superenalotto jackpot was the largest lottery prize in the world at the time, having overtaken even the famous Powerball in the USA, which has its prize capped at $150 million.

Anticipation had been building ahead of Thursday night's draw; 200 draws had passed without anyone winning the jackpot, leaving the prize money to creep up and up.

It was the second-biggest amount ever won on Superenalotto. The record jackpot was €177.7 million, won back on October 30th 2010 - almost exactly six years ago. However, that ticket was held by a syndicate of 70 players in Milan.

The owner of the Catanian newsagent where the winning ticket was bought, Domenico Lo Bianco, told Italian media: "At first, when journalists phoned me to tell me about the win, I thought it was a jock. Slowly I realized that it was all true."

When he realized that he hadn't fallen victim to a prank, he rushed to his shop to find it already surrounded by TV cameras and reporters.

However, the winner has not yet revealed their identity - and Lo Bianco says he has no idea who it could be. The newsagent's is located in the centre of the town, Vibo Valentia, and he says he has so many customers he wouldn't be able to guess who bought the scratchcard.

The winning combination was 3, 12, 23, 71, 76, 83, with 56 as the 'jolly number' and 35 the 'superstar number'.

It's the first time someone has had all six winning numbers this year, and the second time in total. The only other occasion was in July 2015, when another person from Catania won €22 million - a measly payout in comparison to Friday's.

 

 

 

 

 

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