Her €35,000 jackpot blocked because of her husband
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8 Aug 2026 •
Reading time: 3 minutes
At 79, Carmen thought she would be able to enjoy the €35,000 she won in the lottery in August 2025. Nearly a year later, this Spanish pensioner is still waiting for her money. A previous registration attributed to her late husband is preventing the payout and the case is now in the hands of the courts.
A €35,000 prize she cannot claim
The ticket was a winner. For Carmen, the prize amounted to €35,000. However, what should have been a pleasant surprise has turned into an administrative and legal battle.
Carmen is listed on the register of people barred from gambling. This listing means she is officially considered to be suffering from a gambling addiction and, in particular, is not permitted to enter certain gambling establishments or place bets. According to the authorities, her presence on this register is currently sufficient to prevent the payment of the 35,000 euros.
To understand the reason for the hold-up, we need to go back thirteen years before the lottery win. In 2012, Carmen’s husband is said to have had her added to the register without her knowledge. He died in 2015. Ten years later, when Carmen won her prize in August 2025, this previous entry was still likely to have legal effect. However, the pensioner disputes the reason given for her registration. She insists she has never been addicted to gambling.
Her family puts forward a completely different explanation: her husband allegedly sought to control her comings and goings and prevent her from playing bingo with her friends.
‘He was a horrible husband’
One of Carmen’s daughters has given a particularly scathing account of her father. According to her, her mother’s registration was not motivated by a desire to protect her from any kind of addiction.
“My father was a horrible husband. He was sexist and didn’t like my mother going to bingo with her friends because it left him alone at home,” she told the Spanish daily El País.
The family also claims that the husband forged Carmen’s signature and provided false information in order to have her entered on the register.
Irregularities in the disputed case
Carmen and her family have no intention of giving up the 35,000 euros. The pensioner has brought legal proceedings in an attempt to have her entry declared invalid and to recover the prize money.
Her lawyer and her family are contesting the procedure followed in 2012. One factor could prove decisive in the case: according to information reported by the source, the authorities themselves acknowledged certain irregularities in the application submitted at the time.
The case is currently being heard by the High Court of Justice in Madrid. The outcome of these proceedings will be decisive for the pensioner.