Record Lottery winner wants to buy Zlatan
A 36 year old man from Visby on Gotland has become Sweden's biggest-ever lottery winner, picking up a tidy 122.9 million kronor. Now he says he wants to buy Swedish football star Zlatan Ibrahimovic for his local team.
The man, who is single and currently unemployed, had a combination of seven correct numbers on the Lotto game and two on the Joker. The probablity of choosing those numbers was one in 330 million.
"He said that he had checked on text TV when he came home after the Sweden-Croatia game and since then he hadn't been able to sleep," said Tommy Wahlgren of Svenska Spel, the state-run gambling organisation which manages the lottery.
Wahlgren called the man, who has chosen to remain anonymous, on Sunday morning to confirm the win.
"He was very excited after the call," said Wahlgren.
"He is interested in football and we discussed the possibility of buying Zlatan for the Visby team Gute. There's a lot going on in your head when everything suddenly becomes possible," he added.
The chances of Zlatan swapping Juventus for Visby are remote, but Svenska Spel will ensure that the winner will be given good financial advice.
"If you're not an expert it can be hard to deal with so much money," Tommy Wahlgren told Dagens Nyheter.
But while he acknowledged that a sudden windfall could cause difficulties for people with drug or gambling problems, Wahlgren said that Swedes usually handle the money rather carefully.
"Winners usually keep their jobs, maybe cutting down their hours. Some of them take their families to the Canary Islands or Thailand. I think Swedish winners are a bit boring," he said.
He may have a point. Expressen caught up with the lucky man in Visby, eager to find out more about the wild festivities following the announcement of the massive win.
"My family and I celebrated with a cup of coffee. I don't drink alcohol," he said.
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The man, who is single and currently unemployed, had a combination of seven correct numbers on the Lotto game and two on the Joker. The probablity of choosing those numbers was one in 330 million.
"He said that he had checked on text TV when he came home after the Sweden-Croatia game and since then he hadn't been able to sleep," said Tommy Wahlgren of Svenska Spel, the state-run gambling organisation which manages the lottery.
Wahlgren called the man, who has chosen to remain anonymous, on Sunday morning to confirm the win.
"He was very excited after the call," said Wahlgren.
"He is interested in football and we discussed the possibility of buying Zlatan for the Visby team Gute. There's a lot going on in your head when everything suddenly becomes possible," he added.
The chances of Zlatan swapping Juventus for Visby are remote, but Svenska Spel will ensure that the winner will be given good financial advice.
"If you're not an expert it can be hard to deal with so much money," Tommy Wahlgren told Dagens Nyheter.
But while he acknowledged that a sudden windfall could cause difficulties for people with drug or gambling problems, Wahlgren said that Swedes usually handle the money rather carefully.
"Winners usually keep their jobs, maybe cutting down their hours. Some of them take their families to the Canary Islands or Thailand. I think Swedish winners are a bit boring," he said.
He may have a point. Expressen caught up with the lucky man in Visby, eager to find out more about the wild festivities following the announcement of the massive win.
"My family and I celebrated with a cup of coffee. I don't drink alcohol," he said.
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