Organisers of the extraordinary Culture Draw of the National Lottery have announced that every resident of the capital has been recognised as a prize winner, after a verification exercise carried out door to door over the weekend. Officials at the draw committee said the procedure required each household to present its tickets to a volunteer, who then read the numbers aloud in front of two witnesses and a notary-free public audience of neighbours.
The committee's director, speaking from a folding table set up in the central square, said the decision followed an uncompromising reading of the rules. "The regulation says the prize is awarded to the holder of a valid tenth, and we have found a tenth in every kitchen, so the logic is simple," she said. "Nobody in this city has been left out, and we are not in a position to make exceptions for anyone who had the courage to buy one."
To pay out the 105 million euros in prizes, the Treasury has begun moving the cash by armoured van, transporting it in one hundred and eleven consignments to a former tram depot on the river. Transport workers reported that the convoy blocked the city's ring road for most of the afternoon, and a small queue of drivers waiting to pass has since been registered as the first group of prize claimants.
Shopkeepers in the old quarter have already begun to close early so that staff can attend the payout centre, and the mayor's office has ordered the removal of all parking meters on the route to ease access. Asked what would happen when the lottery's next draw arrives in December, a spokesperson replied that the committee had already reserved the same square and would be counting the entire region next time.