The joy of a 35 million euro lottery win quickly soured in the remote Spanish village of Villamanin, located in the mountainous Leon province of northwest Spain. What began as a community celebration for its nearly 1,000 residents turned into bitter disputes after it was revealed that 50 winning tickets, representing 4 million euro in prize money, had been sold without corresponding physical tickets. This error plunged the village into turmoil, forcing police intervention and a contentious compensation agreement.

The story began when a local youth group, acting as the festival committee, organized a fundraiser for the community's annual festivities. They purchased tickets for Spain's famous El Gordo (Christmas lottery), dividing them into 450 individual shares, each priced at 5 euro. Of this, 4 euro was for the lottery bet and 1 euro was a donation to the village fund. The shares were sold to residents and visitors with the promise of a life-changing win. On 22/12/2025, when the winning numbers were announced, euphoria swept through Villamanin. Residents poured onto snow-covered streets, uncorking bottles and celebrating their collective fortune, estimated at around 35 million euro from the 450 winning shares.

However, the "honeymoon" period for the new millionaires ended abruptly after only four days. The festive atmosphere vanished, replaced by suspicion and anger. Residents discovered the festival committee had sold 450 shares but had only purchased the original lottery tickets corresponding to 400 shares. A block of tickets had been overlooked or lost, rendering 50 of the sold shares, equivalent to 4 million euro in prize money, utterly worthless.

A Villamanin villager shows off a winning lottery ticket on 22/12/2025. Photo: El Pais

An emergency meeting, lasting four hours, was held at the community center. Over 100 people packed the hall, where shouts, accusations, and tears filled the air. A representative for the youth group admitted the error in counting tickets and apologized to the villagers, stating, "Today, we lost friends." However, the apology did little to appease the anger of those who suddenly faced a loss of 80,000 euro each. Tensions escalated to the point where police had to intervene to prevent physical altercations between neighbors.

One frustrated resident remarked, "Everything is crazy. The luckiest people right now are probably those who didn't buy any tickets," as he witnessed neighbors threatening legal action. To avoid the entire village ending up in court and the prize money being frozen for years, an agreement was proposed. The organizing youth group agreed to forfeit their entire share of the prize money, estimated between 1.2 and 2 million euro, as compensation. The remaining deficit would be covered by a 5% to 10% reduction in the prize money of the 400 legitimate winners.

While this shared-loss solution meant the 50 affected individuals would still receive some money, not everyone was satisfied. Many accepted the reduced prize money, however, expressing a desire to protect the young organizers, who had volunteered for the community, from legal repercussions or bankruptcy. As one comment in the Mirror newspaper observed about Villamanin's tragicomic saga, "Money is the cruelest test of human affection."