Millions in El Gordo prize money lost due to administrative error
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2 Jan 2026 •
Reading time: 2 minutes A mistake that took just a few seconds. But the consequences are enormous. The Spanish village of Villamanin saw €4 million go up in smoke due to a simple registration error.
An innocent system with a big mistake
In Villamanin, a small mountain village in the province of León, El Gordo is not a game. Every year, residents jointly purchase lottery tickets through the local festival committee. Part of the proceeds go to village festivals. The rest? Dreams of millions. This year, luck seemed to be on their side. A winning ticket number yielded €34 million.
But fifty of the tickets sold were not correctly registered with the national lottery office. No registration, no payout. The holders of those tickets received nothing. What followed was anger, sadness and a village that no longer recognised itself.
Mistrust divides the village
The festival committee had a tough time. Accusations of negligence and even intent flew back and forth. Chairman or volunteer, suddenly everyone was distrusted. The mistake hit hard. Not only financially, but also emotionally. Families felt cheated, neighbours looked at each other with suspicion.
To restore calm, the committee took a drastic decision. They gave up their entire share of the winnings – estimated at between €1.2 and €2 million. A percentage of the remaining prize money was also withheld. This enabled the aggrieved parties to be compensated after all. Not the full winnings, but something.
In other villages, things went well
The event stands in stark contrast to places like La Bañeza, where the winning number was correctly registered. There, the draw changed lives without drama. Ironically, that village had been hit by natural disasters earlier this year – but El Gordo brought hope.
Villamanin is left with a bitter taste. No village wants to win the lottery like this. Or rather, lose it.