SANTANDER city council is searching for the owner of a Christmas lottery ticket bearing the second-prize number 51244, which is worth €125,000.
A woman found the ticket on the street and handed it in to the National Police, since attempting to claim the prize herself would have been a criminal offence.
But if two years pass and nobody has claimed it, the prize money will go to the woman who found the ticket, according to Article 615 of the Civil Code.
The El Gordo Christmas lottery, one of the most popular in Spain, is drawn on December 22, and the lost ticket was discovered and handed in the following day.
After checking with the court and the State Lottery and Betting agency, the police handed the ticket in to the city council, which is required to be notified in the event of a prize-winning lottery coupon being found.
Santander city hall will publish an advert in the regional press the next two Sundays, which will explain what the rightful owner has to do in order to accredit the fact that the ticket belongs to him or her.
The first of these was published on Sunday just gone, and did not include the number or the amount of the prize, but explained that anyone who had lost a ticket should provide proof of this to the town hall secretary, giving the ticket number.
Meanwhile, the council has deposited the ticket in a bank vault until it is claimed.
Payment of the prize has been suspended, but ticket owners have to claim their money within three months.
It is likely, therefore, that the payment will be released and held in escrow by the council if the ticket-holder does not come forward.
Although keeping money or valuables, including prize-winning lottery tickets, found in the street is a criminal offence, the Civil Code requires that if the rightful owner comes forward, he or she must hand over 10% of the value or the amount of money to the person who found it, provided it is worth at least 2,000 pesetas, or €12.
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