Lottery Jackpot Won by Woman Who Begged Outside Bank 5 Hours a Day

A woman who used to beg on the streets of Alicante, Spain, won a lottery jackpot of $1.3 million this week.

The woman, who was known to ask for money in front of a bank in the neighborhood of La Florida and at a nearby supermarket, purchased the winning ticket in a tobacco shop on Thursday. She was reportedly familiar with the shop, often popping in to pass the time and asking passers-by for spare change that she would sometimes invest in lottery tickets, hoping to improve her situation.

But the ticket she bought last week for the Spanish BonoLoto lottery was like no other she had purchased before: this one had all six matching numbers necessary to win the lottery's first prize—a total of 1,271,491 euros ($1,300,631).

After realizing she had won the lottery's jackpot, the woman reportedly went back to the shop that had sold her the ticket, saying: "You have solved my life."

The identity of the woman is unknown, though the owner of the tobacco shop who sold her the ticket has confirmed she is of Romani ethnicity and she was known to have financial issues.

"She came yesterday and told us that we had solved her life," the tobacco shop owner told the Alicante-based online newspaper Información. "We have made someone happy that everyone loved in the neighborhood. The woman had debts and economic problems."

Mariángeles Torregrosa, who runs the shop together with Desirée Agorreta, told the Spanish outlet that the woman used to beg from around 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. every day.

"She sat between the supermarket and the bank, in front of the branch. When she finished, she came and told me: 'Dear, I'm here.' She always took BonoLoto and Primitiva [two Spanish lotteries], not Euromillion because it was very expensive."

According to the tobacconists, the shop had never given away such high lottery prizes.

"We had given out prizes of €36,000 ($36,820), but never something so big. We always said we would give a prize, but you never expect it," they said. "We were at home and they called us at 10.40 p.m. to tell us that we had sold the first BonoLoto prize and I almost fell down the corridor from the excitement."

BonoLoto, which made its debut in 1988, is the most popular lottery in Spain, thanks to the affordable price of its tickets. To play, players choose six numbers in a table from 1 to 49. Each bet is worth €0.50, approximately $0.50.

Players can choose a simple bet with the six numbers—the cheapest option—or a multiple bet in which up to 11 numbers can be selected, which is more expensive.