The Christmas Lottery captures all eyes with a view to the draw on December 22. Within hours of knowing the Gordo corresponding to this year 2023, there are many people who dream of 4 million euros, 400,000 to the tenth, while others remember the moment when they found out that they had been awarded the maximum prize.
That is the case of Juan Rivas, a man from Roquetas de Mar (Almería) who, last year 2022, carried a tenth of 05490 in his wallet, first prize in the last Christmas draw. The TardeAR program, on Telecinco, has contacted him to tell his story, and that thanks to the prize he was able to settle up to 30 different debts that he had pending payment.
"The debts gradually increased due to misfortunes and circumstances," he explained to Ana Rosa Quintana. A good part of these loans are due to the gym that she has run for several decades, and to illnesses such as that of her grandson, who suffers from autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
Juan usually buys tenths every year next to the club of his own gym. "There are eleven of us and we buy a tenth every year, and I bought two, one for the club and one for me, and as luck would have it, mine was the one that played," he explained. The choice of the number had to do with the tastes of his mother, who "likes zeros a lot," while he prefers "big numbers."
The resident of Roquetas de Mar states that the first thing he thought about when he won the award was to get rid of the debts he had outstanding. "I took it to the bank and told the director: cancel, cancel, cancel... he hasn't given me any more, I have two loans left to pay, but I live differently," he tells TardeAR.
Regarding his grandson's illness, Juan recognizes that the treatment requires "a lot of money" and is especially crude: "When one misfortune ends, another comes, and continually. You work more than 16 hours every day, Saturdays and Sundays, no There are no long weekends or vacations," he said on the Telecinco program.
