The winner of the MINI Cooper that was gathering dust at the Cassandraplein in Eindhoven reported on Tuesday morning. “It’s finally being picked up,” says employee Azza of The Read Shop where the winning ticket was sold a year ago. The electric car was a prize in last year’s New Year’s Eve draw. The winner is a 71 year old man. “I didn’t sleep well last night,” he says.
The electric MINI with a value of over 35,000 therefore had to wait almost a year for an owner. Last week, Omroep Brabant reported that the car was collecting dust in front of the shop, because the winner had still not come forward. The ticket could be redeemed until December 31, 11:59 PM to be precise. Not anymore after that.
The winner is a regular customer of the store on Cassandraplein. Every month he comes to this store from a different part of Eindhoven to buy two lottery tickets. It was there on Tuesday morning, before the store was even open. “He handed in two lottery tickets and he won 120 euros,” says employee Azza. “He wanted new lottery tickets and I gave him the remaining amount.”
Then the man, who wants to remain anonymous, came up with a surprise; he handed in another ticket, stating that it was the winning ticket for the MINI. “But a lot of people say that, so I thought he was joking,” says Azza. However, when she scanned the ticket, she saw that it was indeed the winning ticket.
“I had heard that they were looking for that winner.”
Her chef Thanh Nguyen was called in. “This winner had checked the New Year’s Eve tickets via the internet,” he explains. “He said that the price of the MINI was stated at the bottom in small letters. He didn’t see it at first.”
The winner explains a little later how that could happen. “The cash prize on this ticket was 0.00 euros so I thought I had no prize. But in December I always check all my lottery tickets again that did not win a prize in the past year. And that’s what I did last night.” And then he saw it: he had won the MINI.
The man is still a bit surprised about this: “I had heard that they were looking for that winner, but I never thought it could be me.” He will not keep the price, because he has difficulty walking, just like his partner. “I am 71. It is a nice car, but the MINI is very low boarding.”
“What’s left goes into the emergency pot.”
Bjorn Rosner of the Dutch Lottery says that there is a solution if winners do not want to keep a car they have won. “Then they often make a deal with the car dealer. Then you win it and immediately sell it back. Not a mile has been driven.”
The winner can expect approximately 35,000 euros in his account. He has already decided what to do with the money. “I’m going to have my teeth repaired. Our car has a dent, I’ll have it repaired. I will have the kitchen renovated or I will buy a new one. And we are going on holiday to Texel for fourteen days. What’s left goes into the emergency pot,” he says matter-of-factly.
