Star Metro - Twenty-one friends from Belgian village win €123mn jackpot

Each of the friends, who live in the Flemish village of Zingem, stands to pocket about 5.8 million euros once the prize is divided into equal shares.

"5.8 million euros. Yeah, that's unbelievable!" Marianne, a pensioner, told AFP on Monday, speaking outside the bakery where the winning ticket was sold, still shaken by the news.

"Crying, shaking, looking at my husband, I said, 'what is happening?'," she said, recalling the moment she realised they had won on January 30.

"We hugged and we said to each other: 'we're going to be wise, don't do anything foolish.'"

Still, some celebrations were in order, so the 21 winners met that same evening at a local cafe to celebrate with plenty of bubbles.

The venue was full of joyous laughter when the couple arrived to find two glasses of champagne waiting for them, she said.

"It will make life a bit easier," she said. "It will be very good for the children and the grandchild and they will have a good future and that's the most important thing."

The secret to such a big win? It involves a good amount of luck, according to Redgy Taerwe, who sold the winning ticket.

"Friday in the morning, they came here and asked for a 'quick pick' for, I think, 105 euros," he said, referring to tickets with randomly and automatically selected numbers.

"That was it. They won," he added, speaking from behind the counter of the bakery that doubles as a cafe and grocery store.

At 123,555,827 euros, the jackpot was among the largest ever won in Belgium. The all-time record was set in October 2016 when a lucky ticket-holder brought home 168,085,323 euros.

D.Ch. Nadeau--SMC