© MinyanvilleSpoils of Olé
It's like something out of a fairy tale. A tiny town in a country with nearly 23% unemployment receives a huge, sudden windfall and every resident becomes a near millionaire overnight.
Of course, if fairy tales have taught us anything, it's that stories like this rarely end well.
Sodeto, a village of 250 people in an inhospitable region of northern Spain has won the lottery -- or part of it anyway.
According to Der Spiegel, the town won 17% of the country's annual Christmas lottery's biggest prize, "El Gordo," totaling 700 million euros ($910 million). The village itself took 120 million euros ($158 million).
The rest of the prize money was paid out in other towns in Sodeto's province of Huesca but Sodeto was the only village where every family won. Its luck can be primarily traced back to the local housewives' club, which spent weeks convincing residents to buy lotto tickets.
Since their win, many around Spain have viewed the village as a potential cash cow. Salesmen sit in the local bar all day, hoping to sell new cars, homes or investments.
On their end, many residents claim that they want to use the money to improve the town and draw people back to it -- it's been shrinking for years. Some see the money as a way to improve the area's agricultural infrastructure.