Italian Villager Wins Record $210 Million Lottery Jackpot

A resident of the castle-topped Tuscan village of Bagnone won more than 147 million euros ($210.6 million) in Europe’s biggest lottery jackpot, and seemed intent on trying to stay unknown.

The winner bought the ticket for 2 euros at a bar in the central Italian town of 2,000, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) northwest of Florence. The lucky inhabitant, who has yet to come forward, can choose to remain anonymous and has 90 days to claim the cash. Local residents popped bottles of sparkling wine at the bar on Aug. 22 to celebrate the fortune of the winner in their midst. That person may be a 47 year-old local man, the ANSA news agency reported yesterday.

“I hope the winner knows how lucky he is and knows how to handle such an event,” said the town’s mayor, Gianfranco Lazzeroni, in an interview with SkyTG24 television. “This is an opportunity to raise the visibility of this small corner of Italy.”

The draw, broadcast live on RAI state television two days ago, showed the winning numbers to be 10-11-27-45-79-88. It was the first time since Jan. 31 that someone had picked the right combination from the 90 possible numbers in play. The odds of selecting the numbers were 622 million to one, Agence France- Presse reported. The jackpot is tax-free.

Lottery fever has been on the rise in Italy, with more than 400 million euros spent on tickets in July and 300 million euros so far in August, according to Sisal SpA, the lottery company.

The biggest winner may be the Italian government, which takes about half the revenue from ticket sales, though not everyone is excited about the lottery frenzy. Roman Catholic Church officials have denounced the game, with Bishop Domenico Sigalini saying it was “immoral” for the government to encourage it.

Italy’s SuperEnalotto debuted in 1997. Its previous biggest jackpot was 100 million euros, won last year by the unidentified holder of a ticket purchased in the Sicilian city of Catania. The new jackpot will start at 38 million euros.

Salute! Raise a Glass to Italian Wines

When many people think of Italian wine they think of Chianti Classico, but truth is, there are about 1,500 grape varieties in Italy--more than any other wine growing area in the world. Some, like Sangiovese (the grape grown in Chianti, which is a region and not a grape), Nebbiolo or Primitivo, are widespread and well known. Others are grown in small batches and produced by mom-and-pop growers who may only make enough wine for themselves and their friends and family.

Learning about Italian wines can be a heady undertaking, but if you grasp the basics, much of what you need to know falls into place. Many of the wines are named for regions or towns where they are produced, like Brunello di Montalcino (which is made of Sangiovese Grosso and grown in Montalcino in Tuscany) or Barbaresco (which comes from the Nebbiolo grape but is produced in the town or Barbaresco in the Piemonte region).

Italian town invests in lottery tickets

The town of Ficarra, Italy, is praying to hit it big with tickets for a SuperEnalotto jackpot worth at least $165 million, the town's mayor said Monday.

Town councilors took a total of $164 from their salaries to buy tickets for Tuesday's drawing, Mayor Basilio Ridolfo told the Italian news agency ANSA.

"Right now we think we have a better chance of winning SuperEnalotto than getting funds owed to us from the state," Ridolfo said.

The $165 million jackpot is the biggest ever for SuperEnalotto and for weeks has been the biggest of any lottery in the world.

''We chose numbers which were connected with the town's patron saint, the Virgin Mary of the Assumption," Ridolfo said. "It is our hope that, with her blessing, we will hit the jackpot."

If the town does win, half of the money will go into municipal projects and the other half will be divided evenly between Ficarra's 2,000 or so residents, Ridolfo said.