Wednesday, October 8
The €120 million lottery winner steps forward
Nearly two weeks after the numbers were drawn, the Berlin-based winner of the €120 million Euro millions jackpot has finally come forward. His delay, it seems, was simply to allow the stroke of good fortune to sink in.
Little is known about the new multimillionaire. According to the lottery operator, he is aged between 30 and 60 and appeared remarkably composed as officials verified his winning ticket.
Claiming such a vast sum involves a surprisingly careful process. For winnings of €100,000 or more, the lottery company assigns specially trained advisers to each winner. These experts conduct a one- to three-hour consultation in a private office at the lottery’s headquarters.
Transferring the money itself can also be complicated. Most German banks impose daily transfer limits of between €2,000 and €10,000. However, these limits can be raised after consultation with the bank, and there is no technical obstacle to moving €120 million into an ordinary current account. The largest known accidental transfer to a German bank account occurred in 2018, when Deutsche Bank mistakenly credited €28 billion to one of its own accounts – a sum that briefly exceeded the bank’s entire market capitalisation.
