spain el gordo lottery ticket
A fascimile of the winning ticket, shared among 1,800 people, including every resident but one of village of Sodeto Reuters

An entire village in Spain has hit the jackpot and won a US$950 million lottery.

Residents of Sodeto, a small village in eastern Spain, who were struggling with the economic crisis until a few days ago, have become rich after winning the El Gordo national lottery. They were among the 1,800 first-prize-winning ticket holders and each of them has picked up a minimum of £130,000.

But one unlucky man, Costis Mitsotakis, a Greek filmmaker, missed out as he did not purchase a ticket.

The town's homemakers' associations give out a ticket to each villager every year, but this year missed Mitsotakis.

Rosa Pons, the mayor of Sodeto, congratulated everyone using a megaphone.

"Some of the ladies talked about going to the hairdresser," Pons said. "But the hairdresser won, too. And she said: 'I'm not working today.' So that ended that."

Click here to see Sodeto villagers celebrating their lottery win:

The New York Times New York