According to practically every single news bulletin throughout the world, The Republic of Greece, AKA, The Hellenic Republic the “cradle of western civilisation,” currently has a bit of a cash flow crisis, is little short of the readies and is struggling to pay its debts! Aren’t we all?

However, being Greek didn’t bring any financial solace either to film maker Costis Mitsotakis, who is the only Greek inhabitant of the Spanish village of Sodeto. This is the tiny village tucked away in the municipality of Alberuela de Tubo, Huesca, Spain where the entire population of 70 households, decided to pool their resources in order to buy tickets for Spain’s biggest lottery – El Gordo and then won first prize – a staggering NINE HUNDRED and TWENTY-THREE MILLION dollars – yes you did read that right $923,000,000 which meant that the minimum every household walked away with was $132,000 apiece!

All except one that is, no prizes for guessing the missed household – right first time – Costis Mitsotakis! Sadly it appears that when his neighbours were going around every house in the village persuading people to buy El Gordo lottery tickets, Mitsotakis, who lives in a barn half a mile outside Sodeto, mistakenly got overlooked.

Fortunately not all is doom and gloom for Mitsotakis, as he had been trying to sell some land without much success, It now appears that after learning of their lottery win, a neighbour called to say he would buy it and now more neighbours have put in offers on the land; however Mitsotakis doesn’t want any bad feelings in such a small village and has refused to get into a bidding war! He sounds like a very nice guy indeed!

Spain is of course noted, amongst other things, for its addiction to big money lotteries and raffles and with just over 1 day to go before the next Spanish Special Millionaire Raffle is due to be drawn, then this weekend is no exception. Up for grabs is a very tasty ONE HUNDRED and TEN MILLION dollars, which should help a little until your next payday! To be in with a chance of winning, you need a ticket and the place to buy a ticket for tomorrow’s Special Millionaire Raffle is right here at WinTrillions!

Here’s something to get you thinking: if you lose a hundred bucks you’ll probably feel a bit hacked off; however should you WIN a hundred you’ll no doubt feel pretty good! Now the problem is this; if you’ve just lost the $100 the feelings you have about losing it, hack you off TWICE AS MUCH as any excitement you feel from winning the $100! Is that heavy, or what? This phenomenon is known universally as “loss aversion!”

Still need to be convinced? Toss a coin – heads you win a $100; tails you lose a $100. If you’re not comfortable with a straight 50 / 50, win / lose choice, then decide the biggest amount you ARE comfortable losing? To measure your degree of loss aversion, just divide $100 by your chosen amount.

Now that’s pretty much what we do whenever we decide to buy a lottery ticket, except we don’t do it scientifically! Most of us would probably be very uncomfortable about buying one million greenbacks worth of lottery tickets on the possibility of winning a multi-million jackpot, always assuming you had a spare million in the first place, but will quite readily spend one dollar on a lottery ticket to win the same jackpot, simply because one dollar is what we ARE comfortable with. Sociologists and anthropologists reckon loss aversion has helped humans survive in earlier environments, when the opportunity for gain by hunting down mega-beasts to eat was perceived to be far greater that any potential danger arising from the hunt itself!

So there we have it – if ever proof was needed – playing the lottery is obviously in our human DNA – so what are you waiting for? Never mind “mega-beasts” there are some “mega-million” jackpots up for grabs this very week, including Powerball, Super Enalotto, Indiana Hoosier, and EuroMillions with a collective total of TWO HUNDRED AND EIGHT SEVEN MILLION dollars between them, and that’s just from 4 lotteries – the only requisite is a ticket and you can get one of those right here at WinTrillions, where you can play the world’s biggest and richest lotteries, without ever leaving your personal comfort zone or having to hunt down or be eaten by a mega-beast!

You must remember the song “Rainy Night in Georgia”, written by Tony Joe White way back in 1962 which became an instant hit for R&B vocalist Brook Benton in the spring of 1970. Well let me tell you the rain in Georgia has stopped, the sun’s about to shine and a whole new way of life beckons for one or more Georgia residents after matching the numbers 10 – 22 – 24 – 36 – 49 and Mega Ball 33 in last evening’s MegaMillions draw to take the first prize jackpot – a staggering SEVENTY-ONE MILLION dollars!

That’s the highest MegaMillions jackpot payout since Dec. 27 when husband and wife Daniel and Christine Bruckner from San Jose, California hit the New Year running after nailing the $206 million top prize.

Ten ticket holders; 2 from California, 2 from Illinois, 1 from Kentucky, 1 from Massachusetts, 2 from Michigan, 1 from Oregon, 1 from Pennsylvania matched the 5 main numbers to pull in up to $250,000 apiece and another twenty-two ticket holders grabbed themselves up to $16,000 each by matching 4 mains.

Just in case you didn’t already know on Jan. 24, 0041, the Roman Emperor and cruel despot Caligula was assassinated by his disgruntled Praetorian Guards: on Jan. 24, 1848, James Marshall found gold in Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, California and on Jan. 24, 1976, Cleveland Cavaliers beat Milwaukee by 43 points (132 – 89) – so, I guess, Tuesday Jan. 24, 2012 will now hold special significance for a whole bunch of yesterday’s lottery winners!

The next Mega Millions draw is on Friday with a starting pot of $12 million; but before then, in just a few hours time, the beefed up Powerball draw takes place and there’s a ONE HUNDRED and TWENTY MILLION dollar jackpot! Remember, you can buy your tickets for MegaMillions and Powerball as well as many other of the world’s biggest lotteries right here at WinTrillions – just follow the links and you’re in the game!

It’s here – the check’s arrived – the moment of truth – serendipity – it’s payday! Well for Daniel Bruckner and his wife Christine of San Jose, California, yesterday was very definitely a big pay day, a massive payday, in fact the biggest payday they’ve ever had; it was the day that the Bruckner’s stepped forward to collect their $206 million jackpot check after nailing the top prize in the Mega Millions lottery drawn on Dec. 27. The lucky pair decided to take the cash as a lump sum alternative which, after taxes, amounts to a total of $101 million.

The Bruckner’s, had been visiting Christine’s family on Long Island over Christmas when Daniel bought the winning ticket on impulse while shopping for dinner at the King Kullen supermarket. Wow – now that’s what I call “trusting your hunches!”

Well – you must be asking, all fine and dandy for the Bruckner’s, but what about yesterday’s Mega Millions draw? Up for grabs – a $42 million jackpot which is yours and yours alone, if you’re the only one to match numbers 10 – 27 – 28 – 37 – 51 and Mega Ball: 19; sadly I have to say there are no matches so it’s not yours! On the bright side – no winner means a rollover which ups the ante for next Tuesday’s Mega Millions to a very nicely rounded $50 million.

Remember, you can buy Mega Millions lottery tickets right here at WinTrillions, as well as, play many other of the world’s biggest and richest draws and raffles – just follow the links and you could soon be on your way to riches beyond your wildest dreams.