Dordogne couple win’s 4 million euros

Dordogne couple win’s 4 million euros

January 26th, 2010 |

A prize pool of 4 million euros was given to a couple in the Dordogne yesterday as the lottery winners from Montpon-Menestrol collected their prize.

The couple, who wish to remain anonymous, won the draw on the 13th of January. Yesterday they travelled to the regional headquarters of the French lotto in Perigeux to collect their winnings.

Sudouest.com spoke to the couple and reported some of their story without revealing their identity.

The winning ticket was bought by the wife, who has been playing the lotto for 24 euros per week. She quit her job immediately after seeing the amount of money she’d won. She said “I’ve dreamed of this day and I’ve kept playing”.

After the joy of seeing their numbers on television though the family had a slightly tense evening.

“We checked the dates of validity on the ticket” said the wife. “Then we called our daughter to find us the number of the French lotto games on the internet. we rang at 2120 to the Paris headquarters but we were answered by a security guard.” The wife, who says she “remained very zen” about the events and this initial obstacle, rang the Perigueux payment centre at 0815 the next morning.

The husband however said that “We had a very bad night, we just stayed awake”. According to Sudouest he prefers to think of the sum in terms of the old francs; whilst 4 million euros is a lot of money, in the original French currency he would have won 2 billion francs. The couple said they plan to “travel to please our children and their families” and “we want to enjoy it as long as possible”.

Amazingly this is not the record for lottery winnings in the Dordogne. In 2005, the Valentines Day lotto draw of 5 million euros was won by someone from Nontronnais. Other lotto winners from the department included a man from Hautefort who won 3 million euros in February 2009 just days after someone from Neuvic won 4.4 million euros. In 2007, someone from Bergerac won 1.7 million, and in 2006 a Trelissac resident won 1.2 million and someone from Saint Astier that same year won 1.6 million.