LOTTERY store salesman Manuel Reija found an El Gordo lottery ticket left on the counter in his licensed lottery store in Galicia, Spain.

This began a long journey of waiting for the helpful store owner and eventually ended with him being charged with jail time.

“I usually throw away the tickets I see lying around but this one surprised me because it was very well preserved, as if it had been ironed,” Manuel Reija recalled.

Ticket Check

He said that he decided to check the ticket in the store's lottery checking machine, "just out of curiosity."

It was worth €4.7 million (US$5.6M).

But the story doesn’t end there.

He was to experience attention from the law after suspicions were raised. More on that shortly.

“When the prize came up on the screen my legs went wobbly. My face must have been a picture. I checked it twice, three times before I realized what I was holding in my hands.”

Delays Continue

And over 10 years later, Reija was still waiting for the owner of the giant lottery ticket to step forward.

“I am not thinking about that money,” Mr Reija told The Telegraph at the time. “Whatever happens I will carry on working in the store.”

Mr Reija had taken the mislaid lucky ticket to A Coruña’s branch of the state lottery administration.

He was told that an official process had to be followed in order to give the original purchaser a chance to reclaim their number.

When a notification was eventually published in the Galician region’s official gazette, more than 200 people pressed their claim.

But none managed to convince the authorities that it really was their ticket, unable to prove the purchase or recall any peculiarities or stains.

In September 2015 the claim period expired, but Mr Reija was still waiting while a reported 10 lawsuits brought by people claiming the ticket were presented.

“Court decisions normally take a long time in this country”, sighed Mr Reija.