Spain: The charming Christmas story of this ex-immigrant who won the lottery jackpot

This Thursday, December 22, no less than 2.7 billion euros will be won during Gordo, the famous Spanish lottery that keeps an entire country from living for a few hours. For good reason, here, a jackpot is not at stake, but a tenth of the same ticket will allow you to win up to several million euros.

And every year, the winners come from all over Spain and are celebrated immediately after the delightful old-fashioned charm contest.

This Thursday, Cordoba and Jackpot fell in Barcelona and rained millions in Puixerta, very close to the French border. But the winner of part of the second block, a resident of Olot, in the heart of the Catalan volcanoes, caught the eye.

He played for the first time

Ibrahim and his friend Modi bought one of the tickets numbered N°0474 two days ago. Ibrahim’s first participation in the Christmas lottery, encouraged to play by his friend, turned out to be a masterstroke as they both won €125,000 each.

A windfall for both Gambians. Modi, who came to Spain at the age of 12 and is currently unemployed, sees it as an opportunity to “meet the needs of his family”, he explained to reporters gathered in front of his ‘Olode’ outlet. He lived for 30 years.

A long journey to Olot

Ibrahim Conte, who recently arrived in Spain. After spending part of his youth in Mali, he traveled to Europe “by bus” via “Burkina Faso, Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria, Algeria, Morocco and then Libya”.

Like most migrants, he reached Italy by sea before finding refuge in Olot, Catalonia, in 2017. All after a ten year long journey.

Now with the proper documents, Ibrahim, 27, is married to a Gambian from Olot. After leaving Africa, he wanted to “improve his life”. His win in the lottery will allow him to do so while finally helping to launch the singing career of his dreams.