The tiny Spanish village of Sodeto collectively won a major stake in the annual US$950 million Spanish national lottery in December, The New York Times reported.

    The village of farmers and construction workers is enjoying a minimum payout of US$130,000 per resident.

    And yet for all of the new wealth making its way around Sodeto, one villager came away empty-handed. Costis Mitsotakis, a Greek filmmaker who moved to the village for a woman, is the only resident of Sodeto who did not purchase a ticket.

    Spain’s national lottery, known as “El Gordo” (the fat one), was first established in 1812 and operates somewhat differently than lotteries in other countries.

    For example, this year there were 1,800 first-prize winning tickets, each with the same winning number of 58268. Each winning ticket was awarded a cash-prize equaling US$520,000. But since each ticket costs US$26, Spain allows them to be divided into as many as six “participations.”(SD-Agencies)