“I could look on the surveillance cameras to try and see who it is…but I won’t!”
» laughs Lisi Wang, owner of La Tabatière for almost ten years.
On February 22, a player won 216,840 euros at Quinté +, in his tobacco press in Courbevoie, as the PMU announced on Wednesday evening.
This “big PMU winner” – the name given to winners of more than 100,000 euros – went to collect his winnings… in another establishment, leaving his identity shrouded in mystery.
“It’s one of the biggest gains we’ve had here,” explains Lisi Wang.
Sometimes there can be gains of 2,000 euros, 5,000 euros… but never 200,000 euros!
» If this “big winner” appears in the top 10 of winnings recorded by the PMU in Hauts-de-Seine since 2016, we are far from the record of one million established in Malakoff, in 2018. In France, it exceeds the 5 million euros won in the North, while a resident of Seine-Saint-Denis set the Ile de France record at more than 4 million euros.
The owner of La Tabatière reminds us that while Quinté + is often favored by horse racing connoisseurs, you can also win on a stroke of luck.
“The winner was very well able to do a spot,” she explains.
As in Lotto with “flashes”, a “spot” randomly determines the horses on which the bettor will bet.
" It's very complicated.
You have to follow the races all year round”
Sébastien never leaves his finances in the hands of chance.
“I know a little about it.
I find out, I look… It’s very complicated.
You have to follow the races all year round, even if you don't play every time,” confides this municipal employee, who plays Quinté + five times a week.
He bets different amounts each time, depending on the horses on the starting line.
“I can bet two euros like 200 euros, if I am sure of the horses that are running.
»
This regular has already won himself “but never sums like this”, he specifies, taking a look at the enormous check, which sits in the newsagent.
“The biggest sum I won must have been 1,700 euros,” he remembers.
I had bet two euros, so the ratio is correct but it's not much.
»
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“When you play gambling, you always lose,” he says.
I don't know what I would do with 200,000 euros.
I will continue to work, obviously.
It wouldn't change my life.
»
But Sébastien believes in his luck.
As he slides the few euros bet into the dedicated machine, he smiles.
“Everything in life requires luck.
So why not ?
»