The stroke of luck Tenerife Mario Fernández Peraza when it was his turn first prize of the Christmas Lottery in 2018 is riddled with winks, some sarcastic. For a start, got fat with Fat. Furthermore, the winning number came from an administration domiciled in the poor people street. It is the one found in the Bazar y Modas Casa Félix store in his native municipality, Tegueste. Mario was precisely not very rich then. Not now, five years after that.
This 45-year-old Tenerife native continues to reside in Tegueste and this father of three girls continues to work in the cleaning company of this town, for whom a tenth of the three thousand three hundred and forty-seven It gave him a big economic boost. It was not enough to completely change his life.. “Winning the Gordo was important, of course, but other events that happened before and after that draw were what truly changed my life,” he admits.
«I don’t even know how many lottery numbers have been rubbed on my back», says Mario, laughing in the plaza of the Sacred Heart parish of Pedro Álvarez, a quiet and rural town, nestled in the foothills of the Anaga massif. He tells the story of him next to a very original Christmas tree, which describes the idiosyncrasy of this bucolic corner of Tenerife: It is made with dozens of empty wine bottles. Then a neighbor appears, stops, identifies him as the one that the Gordo won and asks permission to pass a tenth behind his back. «I’m telling you… There are so many…».
The 322,000 euros that they paid him instantly, when his bank employee entered the code that State Lotteries and Betting had sent him days after December 22, did not make him a millionaire. From the outset, The Treasury was left with 78,000 of the 400,000 euros of the prize.
But at least He was able to buy a house, an apartment, a Mercedes van and a complete set of teeth., his and his partner’s. «I also had my good meals, which I couldn’t allow myself before. Hence he gained weight. But I tried to make the most of the prize to give my family a house and provide them with maximum stability,” he admits.
The Treasury kept 78,000 of the 400,000 euros of the prize
El Gordo caught him at a time of profound changes personally and professionally. The previous summer she had joined the Urbaser company – which handles waste collection in the Tegueste City Council – and had left one relationship and started another. When he was adapting to his new existence, Fatty suddenly arrived.
Mario and four friends The people I met at the bar where I worked before moving to Urbaser used to play La Primitiva every week. «We had a fund of about one hundred euros left and we decided to invest it in a tenth of the Christmas Lottery for each one”.
«We had a fund of about one hundred euros left from playing Primitiva and we decided to invest it in tenths of the Christmas Lottery»
Mario had other tenths and shares. That December 22 He was making personal arrangements when those from the bar’s supporters called him. «One of them called me telling me that we had won and how he could give me the tenth. “I thought it was a joke.”
Besides, I had written down the number wrong in a notebook. They didn’t match. And she didn’t have the tenth of it. She met her friend in a cafeteria. There he gave her the 3,347 and insisted again that they had won. «I came to realize that it was not a joke when I looked at the tenth, I turned my gaze to the TV and made sure that it was indeed El Gordo. “He had to spend a while to fully assimilate it,” he recalls.
“I came to realize that it was not a joke when I looked at the tenth, I turned my eyes to the TV and made sure that it was indeed El Gordo”
That same day, the five friends went to a local restaurant to celebrate. «One of them interrupted the merriment to say: They haven’t noticed that there are two million euros on this table right now.». And the toasts and speculation continued about what they would spend the money on.
Then celebrated with the familya, with other friends. Some of her sisters cried, her father was happy and Mario was exultant but with the stuck thorn of not being able to share that unique moment with his mother, who had passed away.
“I was able to buy things that I wouldn’t have been able to afford if it weren’t for that stroke of fortune, like two houses”
«The truth is that the money was very good for me», details. “I was able to buy things that I wouldn’t have been able to afford if it weren’t for that stroke of fortune, like two houses.” He had already noticed before the country house that he acquired to touch tile in the same town of Pedro Álvarez. Mario fixed it up, sold it and invested the money in the house of his father, who had just died. Unlike the previous one, this one has land to plant vegetables and fruit trees, like almost all of Pedro Álvarez’s homes.
On the way they were many anecdotes. Thus, as soon as he got the Gordo, several people called him to propose the purchase of the tenth for 400,000 euros, including the 78,000 that the Treasury keeps. He told them no. Acquaintances also appeared out of nowhere, popularity – “many people in the town found out that he had won; This is a small place, where it is very difficult to keep secrets” – and the offers to buy everything, even a store.
Several people called him to propose the purchase of the tenth for 400,000 euros, including the 78,000 that the Treasury keeps; he told them no
«I had a party, I’m not going to deny it, but above all I tried to be as responsible as possible for the good of my family,” he makes clear. He doesn’t remember the number, only that it ended in 7, the lucky number, the most requested ending in the history of lotteries in Spain. Do you have anything left from that prize? “Some savings for unforeseen events.”
