Last Saturday the 147 million euro jackpot of the Italian Superenalotto was finally won after weeks and weeks of intense betting by the largest number of participants ever.
The winning combination was registered in a small bar in the Tuscan town of Bagnone, in the province of Massa Carrara. The bar enjoyed a "golden weekend" after the announcement, with thousands of curious visitors dropping by to see the place that gave someone the biggest prize of any European lottery so far.
The winner, however, is proving elusive. There is wild speculation about who might be the new multi-millionaire in town and the suspects list has been reduced to a few people including the owner of the bar, the ex-director of the post office, a building constructor, a shop keeper and Ugo, whose name was first mentioned as the winner, but who later refused to comment. The bar where the winner played his/hers card is a quiet place where few tourists go so it was quite easy to reduce it to who was there at the time, which is registered and published, that the lucky numbers where selected.
The mayor told reporters that all the suspects were capable of keeping a secret and some would certainly also be capable of trying to throw you off-track. The mayor himself claims to have received two separate phone calls from people excited about having won and promising money to the town but without leaving names. A clear sign, according to him, of the real winner trying to confuse issues.
The true fear of the Bagnone people is that the winner is not from Bagnone at all and might take the money away from the town. "Let us hope its not the priest", someone was reported as saying.
Nevertheless, it seems that the winning ticket has already been presented in Milan at the offices of the Superenalotto.
