Flu-hit €126m winner feared job loss

A 25-YEAR-OLD Spanish woman scooped the world’s biggest lottery jackpot in last week’s €126 million EuroMillions draw, it has emerged.

The winner, who is not married but has a boy-friend, was unaware of her incredible luck for several days because she was in bed with the flu, Spanish newspaper El Pais reported. She only discovered her massive win late on Monday when she returned to work.

The woman, from Majorca, was still ill but went back to her job fearing she could be sacked because of the economic crisis gripping Spain. She finally discovered she was sitting on the prize when she turned on her phone on Monday.

She bought the ticket over the internet with commercial website Serviapuestas, Spanish media reported. The ticket was later validated at a kiosk in the centre of Madrid.

Jose Mieres, director of the website, said staff had been trying to contact the young woman since last Friday’s draw. But she did not answer her phone over the weekend and she was not replying to their emails because she was sick.

She told him: “I still had flu on Monday but, with the crisis we are going through, I decided I had to go to work anyway, out of fear of losing my job.”

Yesterday, the winner was heading to Madrid to meet Mieres and find out how to go about collecting her massive winnings.

Mieres said: “When she found out, she was shocked and incredibly emotional at the same time. She was asking lots of questions, and we immediately put in place the protocol for these cases.

“They will come to Madrid and we will tell them how to act during the first days.”

The previous biggest EuroMillions winner was Delores McNamara, from Limerick, who scooped €115,436,126 in 2005.

Last Friday’s total jackpot was €126,231,764.