At least 4 skycaps and a snack seller are wealthier today after striking it big on "El Gordo".  One skycap who exchanged his tickets yesterday said that the tickets had actually been held for an airline pilot by the lottery seller hawking what turned out to be the winning sheet.  However, the luckless pilot never came back to pick up the $ 7 million prize and the ticket seller began doling out the sheet in smaller tickets on Saturday. 

Another lucky spot to be was the Jardin Cevichero Mexicano in San Sebastian on Friday night.  A couple enjoying a night out, bought tickets: "I told my wife that a ticket seller was over there, and when he was about to leave she called him over and bought 2 pieces of 03".  Another winner was a university student who studies bilingual preschool education: " I was out with 3 class mates, but only I bought tickets"  She had 3 tickets, worth 26,250,000 Colones (over $52,000).

The JPS (lottery ticket board) reported that 28 fractions of the winning ticket had been cashed in, for a total of 245 million Colones. Most winners were camera shy and would not give their names to the local press.  The JPS stressed that security measures were in place and that they offer winners a platform of services, so that they don’t have to take away cash.  The money may be deposited into local bank accounts, left in escrow accounts, or issued as a certificate of deposit.

4 police officers and 20 JPS inspectors are in and around the offices to watch for suspicious activities and the use of mobile phones is prohibited inside the cashier’s area. The JPS chief, Luis Polinaris stated that the winners of 3 large prizes deposited their money in the BCR (Bank of Costa Rica) "The winners should rest easy, knowing that we have a complete platform of services and nobody leaves here with cash. "