Last Friday, Lithuania was shaken by the news that a "Eurojackpot" ticket bought in the capital won the largest amount in the entire history of the lottery in the Baltic States - more than 24 million euros. The intensive search for the winner, which began soon, reached its climax in just a few days. Already on Monday, it became clear that Vytautas from Vilnius, who has passed the age of forty, has become the new multimillionaire of Lithuania. (name changed for winner's security), who purchased a ticket for the fateful game by attaching a container left in the trunk of the car.
A ticket worth 24 million euros was waiting in the store for almost a day
The winner arrived at the headquarters of Olifėja, which organizes the Eurojackpot lottery in Lithuania, on Monday after work together with his wife. The spouses described their state as euphoric and shared the story of their victory while still struggling to understand what had happened.
"Every week I buy one Vikinglotto, Teleloto and Eurojackpot ticket - it's my ritual. So when I remembered on my way home last Friday evening that I didn't have a Eurojackpot ticket yet, I didn't hesitate to stop at Pilaitė's Maxima, the man began the story of how he bought the lucky ticket. - There were a few empty bottles lying around in the trunk, I added them and received 2 euros 70 cents. I added another 30 cents to that amount - and that's how I got what turned out to be a very special Eurojackpot ticket."
Donatas Kazlauskas, deputy general director of "Olifejas", says that the lucky ticket was printed on the evening of January 20 - so he waited for his buyer for almost a day at the store in the capital, at the counter.
"And another interesting fact is that last week's Eurojackpot game sold a total of more than twenty-seven million tickets in eighteen countries. Only two of those tickets won and shared the main lottery prize, the Jackpot. One - bought in Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg. The other one was in Vytautas's pocket on Friday evening," D. Kazlauskas once again emphasized the uniqueness of the situation.
That the whole of Lithuania is looking for a winner of a record amount - they have not heard
When asked why he didn't contact the lottery representative on the weekend, Vytautas said that he didn't even know he had won at the time.
"My wife and I spent the whole weekend peacefully at home, but somehow we missed the news - we neither saw nor heard that a record amount was won in Lithuania. I got ready to check the tickets only on Monday afternoon and started with Eurojackpot. I checked using Perlo's mobile app and I don't know how it was. I did not see the winning amount. I only understood that you should contact the lottery representative by phone to win. That's what I did," Vytautas shared the events of just a few hours ago.
The lottery employee who answered the call asked Vytautas to dictate the ticket number. And then he asked to sit down.
"When I sat down, they told me that I had won 24 million euros, congratulated me and invited me to come to the representative office. There was no way I could understand and believe. Soon I called my wife. Since I had already been taught how to deliver such a message, I also asked my wife if she was sitting, and asked her to get a glass of water. Then I told her the amount I won," said the winner while already sitting in the lottery office.
"When the man said he won 24 million euros, I honestly thought he was joking. Only after repeating it a few more times and checking - I slowly let in the idea that maybe it's not a joke," the winner's wife shared her impressions.
Immediately entered the list of the richest people in Lithuania
The Eurojackpot player who won the sum of 24 euros immediately entered the top 000 of the richest people in Lithuania. According to the list compiled by the magazine "Top" in 400, Vytautas is now equal to Domantas Sabonis, who also has about 200 million euros in his account, and is not far behind Arvydas Sabonis or Donatas Motiejūnas, who manage about 2021 million euros each.
It is true that with large sums of money comes a great responsibility to use it properly.
"I need activity, so I'm not really going to, for example, quit my job and go on a trip around the world." I wouldn't be happy doing that. Now we will let everything settle down, calm down our emotions, and then we will think about what can be done wisely with such a huge amount of money. It's true, we already had time to talk with my wife that if she wants to, she can start her own business", Vytautas said when asked about how he plans to spend his winnings.
In order to help assess possible prospects and risks, the winner was offered the help of specialists.
"The winning money will undoubtedly change the life of Vytautas and his loved ones, and in order for that change to cause as little stress, anxiety and other negative feelings as possible, we offered the winner help - specialist financial consultations that will help him properly invest the winnings." Since the winner takes the prize seriously and pragmatically, and is thinking of maybe starting a business, he gladly accepted our offer. We are very happy about it. As well as the fact that the international "Eurojackpot" lottery has finally brought its main prize to Lithuania," said D. Kazlauskas, deputy general director of "Olifėjas".
Vytautas's win significantly improved the previous Eurojackpot record in Lithuania, which went to an engineer from Kaunas a few years ago who won the "5+1" category prize - 7,6 million euros.
The success of another international lottery - "Vikinglotto" - which visited the player in Lithuania last year has also been surpassed. In February 2021, a man from Vilnius, who stopped by the store to buy mineral water, also bought a Vikinglotto ticket, which brought him 13 million euros.
"I remember how we discussed this win with my colleagues and some of them said they couldn't believe that a Lithuanian could be so lucky. I immediately said that I believe - Vytautas remembers the record win in the Baltic countries that he improved himself. - I also don't understand why people sometimes compete to buy lottery tickets, thinking that doing so is something inappropriate. In my opinion, lottery tickets are just like any other commodity. It just provides great entertainment and, as the examples show, it can even make you a millionaire."
