There is no longer any joy or happiness in the rugby club of Igorre (Bizkaia, 4,500 inhabitants). The Christmas Lottery awarded their shares with the number of the third prize on that December 22. It was all euphoria and celebration during that day and the following ones, when those who had one of those tickets went to collect their money. In some cases, more than 9,600 euros. However, there is no more money left in the box to distribute. The sports club has admitted that it sold 225 extra shares.
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The situation surely resonates in the streets of the Leonese town of Villamanín. In the Bizkaia case, there are still around 2.1 million euros left undistributed among more than 80 affected people. One of them is Beatriz Zamacona. “We did everything they asked us. They set up an office, called us individually to deliver the tickets, and we were waiting to collect. They already warned us it would take about three or four weeks, but my surprise came when I approached again: they told me there was no money,” she told Radio Bilbao. “We are all shocked,” she adds. All those affected will hold an assembly this Thursday afternoon to study possible actions.
“We have the WhatsApp group on fire,” says another affected person, Juan Mari Gurtubai, who is looking for a lawyer. “Two weeks ago I saw the club president on the street and asked him when we were going to get paid. He claimed a computer problem,” says this affected person with four tickets whose grandson plays on the team. He also complains: “There are people who handed in their tickets later than me and have been paid. They did it very badly.”
Gurtubai’s is one of the 43 complaints already filed with the Ertzaintza. The Basque police have already opened an investigation for a possible fraud crime related to the non-payment of shares. According to the Basque Department of Security, complaints have been accumulating over the last few days as concern grew.
According to several residents of this inland Bizkaia town, some affected, mostly young people, had counted on that money to face important expenses, such as down payments for homes or mortgages. This is the case of a couple who preferred not to give their names or make public statements.
“An internal error”
The club itself has acknowledged that the problem is due to an internal error. The club president, Unai Zuloaga, admitted that they detected the discrepancy in the final phase of the distribution: “We realized it when the last ones started to claim and there was no money left,” he said in statements to Radio Bilbao. “It was an oversale,” he added.
The origin of everything goes back to the Christmas draw, when the number 90,693, sold in Igorre, was awarded the third prize. The rugby team Arratiko Zekorrak had acquired 285 tenths, which meant a total prize of more than 14.2 million euros. The shares, costing five euros ― four played and one donated ― awarded approximately 9,600 euros per winning ticket. Most were distributed among players, the club environment, and neighbors of the region, who celebrated the prize enthusiastically.
Silence in the process
As weeks passed, problems began. At the end of January, the club assured on its social networks that it was still “working on the process for the prize distribution” and warned that it was a “complex” procedure that required time. “We are currently specifying with the involved entities the steps to follow to carry out the process safely. It is a complex process that requires time,” it added, and announced that there would be a new statement to detail when and how it would be done.
In February, they communicated that the process was already defined, but since then there have been no new public updates. The deadline to claim the prize ended on March 22, although it was later extended, according to the team itself.
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