The poison festival: welcome to Villamanín, the Spanish town that “closes” due to a dispute over the lottery

Around 300 citizens shouting inside the pensioner’s house, a few young people with shining eyes defending themselves from the accusation of having tried to steal a handful of euros, a few Guardia Civil cars patrolling the town to ensure that the altercations between neighbors did not degenerate.

In the Spanish municipality of Villamanín, in the province of León, this year’s Boxing Day was unforgettable. He had created the committee that organizes the town’s festivals, made up of young people between 18 and 25 years old a “system” divided into 450 shares of 5 euros each so that citizens could collectively participate in the national Christmas Lottery. And he won the so-called “Gordo”, a prize worth more than 35 million euros.

The party didn’t last long. Because then we realized that, due to carelessness (or, according to the ill-thinking, to pocket 250 euros), the guys on the committee had forgotten to deposit a block of 50 shares at the ticket office that they had sold for 5 euros each. To guarantee the prize also to those who had one of the 50 coupons in their hands which were not then brought to the ticket office by the organizers of the game, all 400 holders of regularly deposited shares would therefore have had to reduce their winnings of 87,500 euros by around 10,000 euros.

However, many did not want to give up anything to make up for someone else’s mistake (or embezzlement). The guys on the committee gave up their personal winnings, equal to a couple of million euros which, however, are not enough to “cover” the entire shortfall. After a heated meeting in a recreational center for the elderly, it seems that an agreement has been reached according to which the 400 winners with a valid coupon will give up around 5,000 euros to also reward those who have one of the 50 regularly paid but impossible to collect fees. However, there is nothing written and it remains to be seen whether everyone will accept the reduction of the winnings.

Villamanín is located on the edge of the so-called empty Spainthat “empty Spain” which takes its name from a successful book by Sergio del Molino which tells of the depopulation of the inland areas: today the municipality has 863 inhabitants (there were more than 2,000 in the 1980s), but many of them, although maintaining their residence, no longer live in the town. And if the «Gordo» fell like a bomb on sleepy Villamanín, the quiproquò that was discovered in the following hours, fueled by a web of suspicions, seems to have shattered the cohesion of a small community that had remained, up until now, clinging to its territory.

Meanwhile, realizing that in Villamanín it would not be possible to say goodbye to a very lucky but equally disastrous 2025 all together, the municipality canceled the New Year’s Eve celebrations.

December 28, 2025

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