The jackpot worth EUR 21m collected on Tuesday hasn’t only brought joy to the lucky person to win the record amount, but also to the Grosuplje municipality where the winner holds a permanent residence.
Namely, the winner’s municipality is entitled to 3 million euros in taxes for the winnings, and plans to spend the money on an extension of the health centre, which is already being built.
Dušan Hočevar, director of the municipal corporation, has confirmed that the municipality received tax money earlier today. As the mayor of Grosuplje Peter Verlič had already stated upon hearing the news of the jackpot, the municipality intends to use it to extend the facilities of the local healthcare centre.
Tax amounts to EUR 3m
The tax collected from the jackpot is worth over EUR 3m, which means that the municipality will be able to fund the construction of the extension, which started three weeks ago and is estimated to cost precisely EUR 3m (without VAT), explained Hočevar, who also pointed out that “the money will come in very handy this year and will be put to good use”.
Plans always bigger than financial means
Without the money from the lottery win, the construction of the extension would have been financed partly from investment funds and partly by taking a loan. Asked what the investment funds will be used for now, Hočevar replied that the needs for investment in the municipality are ever-present, and that plans always exceed available financial means.
However, the budget of the municipality still needs rebalancing. Hočevar noted that the budget for 2014 would have needed to be amended in February or March in any case, regardless of the collected tax from the jackpot.
The main lottery prize goes to Grosuplje
A Slovenian from Grosuplje, who had won the jackpot of the international Eurojackpot lottery worthEUR 21,047,334.80 euro last December, collected the winnings on Tuesday. After paying taxes the winner was left with EUR 17,890,234.58. A 15 per cent tax has been deducted and received by the municipality where the winner resides permanently.
