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Sicily town bets wages on lottery

A Sicilian mayor has come up with a plan to resolve his town’s cash-flow problems – he’s betting local officials’ salaries on the lottery.

According to the BBC, Italy’s SuperEnalotto has not been won in weeks, and its jackpot has climbed to 116m euros (£98m).

Ficarra Mayor Basilio Ridolfo and his colleagues have stumped up 115 euros from their pay packet to buy tickets.

The chances of winning Tuesday’s draw were higher than those of receiving funds pledged by the state, he said.

If Ficarra does strike it lucky, Mr Ridolfo said half of the winnings would be spent on municipal projects while the rest would be divided between the town’s 2,000 residents.

Winning numbers are drawn three times a week, but the jackpot has rolled over for several months as no ticket holder has correctly picked all six numbers.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .