The flag is flying in Balkbrug. Just across the border in Overijssel, the PostcodeKanjer fell there. A price of 59.7 million euros. For the Drenthe neighbors who live a stone’s throw away, this takes some switching. They get nothing.
Rudy Rabbinge was just on his way home when he heard the news about his hometown on the radio. He has been buying a ticket every year since the postcode lottery was founded in 1989. Yet the flag is not up. He immediately knows that he and his neighbors will receive nothing from the amount of money.
Rabbinge has to go to his home via a bridge from a winning street. That bridge is exactly the border between the two provinces. “The north side is Drenthe, the south side is Overijssel,” he explains.
For about five years now, his home has been part of the place of residence Zuidwolde instead of Balkbrug, the closest town. “We always had the postal code of Balkbrug: 7707RZ, but at a good time it was decided at a higher level that the postal codes should be tailored to the municipality where you live,” says Rabbinge. “So we are now excluded.”
It could have been very beautiful. Rabbinge was involved in the establishment of the postcode lottery. The majority of the money obtained from the sale of lottery tickets goes to charities and Rabbinge was on the board of Natuurmonumenten at the time.
“We then took the initiative, or at least provided an incentive, to set up the postcode lottery because we had the idea that this could significantly improve the financial position of Natuurmonumenten,” Rabbinge explains.
A wide range of charities have now joined and of course a large cash prize goes to the winners as prize money. “The income from the postcode lottery was much higher than we initially thought.”
With the prize money, Rabbinge would once again have helped a good cause. “Probably Refugee Work,” he says. “I think the Netherlands has an enormous task there.”
Rabbinge is not sad that he is missing out on the cash prize. “That’s not a problem. We are happy and that is the most important thing.” He looks at his yard. His family has lived there since the sixteenth century. “It’s good. We live in a beautiful place and are very happy. I would like to keep it that way and money is secondary.”