Jackpot: A team of 165 Belgians won 143 million euros!

Christmas came early for 165 Belgians in a small village in northern Belgium called Olmen, who won €142,897,164 in the EuroMillions lottery this week, the biggest ever won by a team in Belgium.

Each of the winners will receive a tax-free sum of almost 900,000 euros, EuroMillions spokeswoman Joke Vermeer told Reuters.

It is the first time in Belgium that such a big team has won so much, he added. “It is indeed a wonderful story.”

The winners had all dropped €15 into a pot set up at a local shop whose owners regularly hold group lottery buys, which had occasionally yielded winnings to participants, but never a large jackpot.

“Many of the customers who won had a hard time believing it at first,” said shopkeeper Wim Van Breckhoven, who was as surprised as his wife when they heard the lucky numbers.

“After the big win we had quite a few new customers, and no one in the village holds a grudge against the winners,” added the shopkeeper. “Everyone is genuinely happy for them,” he continued.

Olmen is home to a total of 3,785 people, according to the most recent figures available for this small village in northern Belgium from the 2020 census.

“The winners come from all walks of life, but regardless, everyone will have somewhere to use the money, especially with the holidays and the current energy crisis,” Van Breckhoven noted.

A 20-year-old who is among the winners will buy a small house for her and her dogs, the shopkeeper continued, commenting that with the amount of money she won, the house would not necessarily be small.

EuroMillions is a National Lottery game of chance, organized in coordination with lotteries from France, Great Britain, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Austria, Switzerland and Luxembourg.

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